


Chatty

by aones_lost_eyebrows



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Happy, Happy Ending, Mutual Pining, Opposites Attract, Romantic Fluff, just a nice aone fic, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:56:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28580112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aones_lost_eyebrows/pseuds/aones_lost_eyebrows
Summary: They say opposites attract, right?In which Aone finds himself drawn to Karasuno's incredibly talkative manager.
Relationships: Aone Takanobu/Original Character(s), Aone Takanobu/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 31





	1. The Tournament

The first time they met was at the inter-high preliminaries, her first official tournament as Karasuno’s newest manager. 

Hikari was giddy with excitement, nearly bubbling over as she walked with the team to go warm up for the second round.

The spring in her step was annoying. Everyone on the team loved her for the most part, but the relentless optimism and nonstop chatter sent some of the boys over the edge at times. Kiyoko had become accustomed to Hikari’s endless string of sentences and simply just nodded along as she rambled about what she liked and didn’t like about the gym. 

So far her favorite thing was seeing all of the different uniforms, and her least favorite was the bushes outside the front doors.

“They’re too manicured, they look like perfect squares. Nature isn’t supposed to be neat, you know? I mean yeah I understand why people trim their bushes and stuff but that was just excessive! My dad definitely likes to have order in the front yard; he's always fussing over the flowers…” Hikari went on.

The boys were chatting amongst themselves about the game and Kiyoko tuned out her friend’s rambles, but still nodding every so often to keep the chatter-box satisfied. 

The Karasuno team rounded the corner and Hikari was now talking about a botanical garden that her father had taken her to as a child when they came face to face with another team.

For the first time since they boarded the bus, she fell silent, looking between the two teams and the tension between them making her skin crawl. She didn’t like confrontation. 

All of the Dateko players had a lot of height to them, but one in particular had caught her eye. He was big- tall and broad in the shoulders. What she found particularly interesting about this boy was that even with no eyebrows he still managed to have an incredibly intense expression on his face. 

She cast a glance to the side, looking at her team behind her. Asahi looked as if he had turned to stone.

After what felt like a lifetime of just standing in silence, looking at one another, the boy with no eyebrows raised his arm and just pointed at Asahi, his face unwavering with his threatening expression. 

Hikari cringed inwardly, unable to handle how tense the air had become around her. She knew that they all took volleyball seriously, but this seemed like a lot. One of the other players from Dateko grabbed the arm of Mr. No Eyebrows and tried to get him to put it down, “Sorry,” He said, “He tends to lock on to the team’s ace.” The boy continued to struggle to get his teammate to stop.

Taking a deep breath in, she stepped in front of Asahi and began to push the team along, “C’mon, it's almost time to start warming up.”

As she scooted Karasuno along she sized up Mr. No Eyebrows, looking him up and down. He was intimidating, but he was still only a guy. Hikari continued to push the boys past Dateko and flashed them a smile, “We’ll see you guys on the court! Remember to have fun!” 

As they continued their walk down the hallway she looked behind her to see that Mr. No Eyebrows’s intense expression was gone, and was replaced with him staring at her with a slightly slack face, eyes wide. 

Positivity was probably the only reason Kiyoko asked her to manage- she had no other discernible skills that would help out. She didn’t particularly understand volleyball, wasn’t very organized, and most people considered her to just be an airhead floating her way through a life full of sunshine and smiles. That being said, she was pretty smart- she had spent plenty of mornings before school giving the first years extra help when it came to their studies.

But her most redeeming quality by far, was the way that she just radiated positivity. Hikari was an excellent motivator- always cheering the loudest for the boys who she cared so deeply about. While her bubbly personality and nonstop chatter was definitely annoying at times, her absent-minded babbling took the edge off of their nerves before a match. It was calming, in a weird way. 

“Well they sure are something.” Hikari nudged Asahi with a smile on her face as the team walked down the hallway. She knew he was nervous, Suga had told her about the last match he had played against the great Iron Wall of Dateko. He didn’t return the smile. In fact, it looked like he was about to shit his pants. 

Hikari hummed to herself, brow furrowed as she thought about how the two teams would be head to head fairly soon. Grabbing one of Asahi’s ears, she pulled him down so that their foreheads were touching. He let out a little yelp from how harshly she had yanked on him.

She was now sandwiching his head between her hands, “They are just another team. You’re this team’s ace for a reason, Azumane.” Hikari was horrible at being serious, but she wanted Asahi to do his best today- it was a big deal for him to beat this team. She released his head from her grip, her hands now grabbing his jacket sleeve as she dragged him to catch up with the rest of the team. The long stride of her skip had caused him to follow in a half jog. 

With a smile stretched across her face once again, she looked at Asahi, “Let’s do this!”

This time he smiled back.

****

Karasuno had won against Dateko, and Hikari’s throat itched from how much, and how loudly, she had been cheering from the stands.

While she didn’t really get volleyball that much, she absolutely loved to watch the guys play. She didn’t quite know what she was expecting watching this match, but the energy between the two teams had her more fired up than usual. With Mr. No Eyebrows, she could definitely see why they were called The Iron Wall. He was quite the force to be reckoned with when it came to blocking.

Both teams began to gather their things and vacate the court, so she grabbed her bag and bounded down the flight of stairs so she could catch up with Karasuno and congratulate them on their win. 

The spring that was always in Hikari’s step could probably rival Hinata’s- she always moved so lightly, skipping with excitement as she made her way towards her team. 

‘You guys!” She squealed as she saw them pass through the gym doors. She flew into the first sets of arms she saw- Noya and Tanaka’s, congratulating them and making her way around to each member, showering them all with praise no matter how much or how little playing time they had. 

There was something about how genuine Hikari’s words always were. The way that her face was always lit up, so full of love and absolute delight. The boys believed that she didn’t have a mean bone in her body. 

“Wow,” She exclaimed, “Wow, wow, wow! You guys were awesome! Oh my goodness! Phenomenal! I mean, during that last set…” And her ramblings began. As if none of the players had just been on the court, Hikari began to list off her favorite parts of the match in excruciating detail, her hands flying around animating her every word. Hinata, Noya, and Tanaka jumped into her one sided conversation almost immediately, always loving the energy she put into talking about their achievements during a match. 

The team began to wind their way through the halls of the gym, back towards the parking lot where the bus was. They all looked tired, and they still had a long night ahead of them since tomorrow they would be playing Aoba Johsai. 

“I’ll meet you guys at the bus,” Hikari said to Daichi as they passed by a sign pointing towards the bathrooms, “I have to make a quick pit stop before the drive back.”

She handled her business quickly, not wanting to hold the team up from getting back to the school. Hikari swung the bathroom door open and walked quickly down the hallway, maybe a little too quickly because as she rounded a corner her face was suddenly in someone’s chest. She stumbled back and looked up, already apologizing for her clumsiness and how she should’ve looked where she was going. 

But her apology stopped abruptly when she realized that she had bumped into Mr. No Eyebrows himself, and once again held an intense expression on his face.

“You!” She nearly screeched with her classic blinding smile breaking out across her face. He took a step back from her, looking the slightest bit startled for a moment.

“You did so well today! You’re a great blocker-guy-person!” She excitedly patted his shoulder as she beamed at him, “I can see why they call you guys the iron wall!”

He didn’t say anything in response.

Hikari was about to say something else when a voice from behind the iron wall shouted, “Aone! Coach is looking for you!” His teammate came up from behind him. Mr. No Eyebrows, or Aone, just nodded and he and his teammate turned around to walk back over to the rest of the Dateko team. 

She started heading towards her own team that was waiting for her in the parking lot, but after a few strides she spun back around on her heels and shouted down the hallway, “Bye Aone!” 

Aone and his teammate both stopped in their tracks to look back at her, watching her smile and wave as she continued her walk towards the parking lot, backwards. For the briefest of moments, Aone felt a pink tint sweep across his cheeks. This girl was just, really nice. He gave her a curt nod back before turning around. 

As Hikari skipped towards the bus, she too felt a twinge of pink on her cheeks. 

  
  



	2. The Train

A month had passed since the Inter High Tournament, and Hikari had to forgo team activities for a few days in order to spend the weekend in Tokyo helping her aunt Mei move out of her apartment in the city. 

She bounded down the steps of the train station and waited patiently on the platform for the train to arrive. It wasn’t a terribly long trip to Tokyo, Hikari quite liked it, actually, watching out the windows as the train stopped through different towns. 

Rocking back and forth on her heels, she bopped her head to the music that was playing through her headphones until she felt the rumble of the approaching train. The platform was rather empty for a Thursday afternoon in the summer, maybe a dozen or so other people spread out across the station. 

Once the train squealed to a stop, Hikari patiently waited for the others who stood in front of her to get in the car first and fiddled with the straps of her overnight bag that was slung against her back, and she quietly slipped inside, still bobbing her head slightly to the music. The doors closed behind her and she looked around to see if there was an open seat.

There were plenty of open seats, but she quickly zeroed in on an empty one that was next to a boy she could now recognize anywhere. 

Aone had painfully good posture when he was seated, like there was a taut string connecting the top of his head to the roof of the train car. His hands rested stiffly on his legs and he kept his eyes on the ground.

Hikari steadied herself with a pole next to the door as the train began to move, before she walked her way over to the Dateko player. Nearly toe to toe she leaned over and tapped his shoulder.

“Is this seat taken?” She pointed to the one next to him. He glanced to the side at the open seat and looked back up at Hikari. She was positioned in the perfect position to slightly block the fluorescent lights in the car, causing it to look as if she were glowing. 

With the light behind her, Aone thought that she looked quite radiant. 

He shook his head slowly, and that was all Hikari needed as she slid into the seat beside him with a smile. Placing her overnight bag gently in her lap, she settled into her seat. But it wasn’t long until she opened her mouth.

“I’m Hikari, by the way,” She took her headphones out of her ears and gently wrapped the cord around her phone, “I don’t know if you remember, but we met at the tournament last month? I’m one of Karasuno’s managers.”

Aone nodded. Of course he remembered her. 

He remembered the way that she smiled at his team as she ushered her own away. A smile so bright, and so welcoming. And the way that her simple goodbye had caused the eighth wonder of the world to be created- a blush that had crept across his cheeks.

“Aone Takanobu.” He replied.

“Are you heading to Tokyo?” She looked over at Aone. 

He nodded again. 

“Me too! I’m visiting my Aunt Mei for the weekend! She’s been living in the city for so long but she got offered a new job outside of the city and found this absolutely adorable little house, so I’m helping her pack everything up before the movers come on Monday…” Hikari’s ramblings began. Aone just looked at her as she spoke, listening intensely with a furrowed face. But as she continued to go on (and on, and on...) the expression on his face softened. 

_She’s something_ , he thought to himself. 

Aone couldn’t remember the last time someone talked to him this long aside from his teammates and his family- even then the conversations were still fairly short and often one-sided. 

Hikari had just finished going into great detail about Mei’s ‘Just, like, super cute house’ when she paused to take what seemed like her first breath in fifteen minutes. 

“Anyways,” She tucked her hair behind her ear before continuing, “What brings you to Tokyo?” Hikari waited expectantly for Aone’s verbal response. 

He obviously was not the talkative type, but after a few moments of looking into Hikari’s eyes (he thought they sparkled. Maybe due to the light coming through the train windows, or maybe she was simply just born to be so dazzling), he relaxed his shoulders slightly.

“My brother recently moved to Tokyo and forgot some things. My mother is having me bring them to him.” 

Hikari squeezed her bag into her, like she was giving it a hug, “That’s so nice of you to do! And that’s exciting to have a brother in the city! Now you have, like, a place to stay if you’re ever like ‘Oh I really want to go to Tokyo for a weekend’! I’m kind of bummed my aunt is moving out of the city, it’s always been so fun to visit her,” And her motormouth revved up once again, “This weekend is kind of her last hoorah in the city for a while, so we’re hoping to have everything packed up by Saturday afternoon so we can go to all of her favorite places in Tokyo. Then, I’m planning on taking her to her favorite restaurant on Sunday night. That’ll be nice too because Sunday is also her birthday and I’m going to treat her dinner, like my little gift to her.” 

Her feet tapped rhythmically against the floor of the train car as she spoke- like there was always just too much energy in her at all times. It seemed as if she was going to dive into a breakdown of the restaurant’s entire menu before she stopped, mentally reminding herself that it was important to include other people in conversations, “When’s your birthday, Aone?”

“The thirteenth.” 

“Of..?”

“August.”

Hikari’s eyes widened as she grabbed Aone’s arm, which definitely took him by surprise.

“That’s, like, next month! How are you going to celebrate? Do you have any birthday traditions? Did you ask for anything special?” She quickly rattled off questions, still smiling as she rested her head in her hand, once again waiting patiently for a response.

He thought that she had already peaked with the levels of bubbliness about ten minutes ago, but Aone was wrong. She clutched her bag so tight he thought it would burst at the seams. It was like everything made her happy, which was refreshing from the mundaneness of the quiet life he typically led.

“I have practice.”

“Well that’s no fun,” Hikari slumped down in her seat slightly, knowingly over-exaggerating her disappointment in the lack of theatrics regarding his birthday plans, “Dinner with your family? A cake maybe?” She continued to prod.

“Probably.”

“What kind?” 

Aone just shrugged. He wasn’t used to being asked so many questions. 

She wanted to continue to egg him on- savoring each time she heard the sound of his lovely baritone voice. Hikari spoke recklessly- she couldn’t help the volume of her voice or the wildness of her thoughts jumping from topic to topic. But the way that he spoke so softly as he sat next to her made her feel warm inside. Although she didn't really know Aone, she felt so lucky to have these sentences uttered to her from the middle blocker. Each syllable felt so personal, so private. 

She wanted to continue to egg him on, but she didn’t. She could tell that he wasn’t much of a talker. So, Hikari just nodded in response to his shrug as she unraveled her headphones, extending one out to Aone.

“Wanna listen?”

The corners of his lips curled upwards ever so slightly and placed the bud in his ear. 

The two of them sat quietly for the rest of the train ride. Hikari had her head resting against the window and watched the world pass by, stealing the occasional glance at Aone, admiring his side profile. 

He now looked more comfortable in his seat than he did when she had first boarded the train- using the window to rest against as he closed his eyes. Although he was also peeking at Hikari out of the corner of his eye every so often. 

Once, near the end of the ride, they had caught one another and looked away immediately with hot cheeks. Neither of them looked back at each other until the train pulled into the station. 

They walked out of the train station together silently. At the top of the steps they were greeted with a bustling city. The two of them hovered as they stood outside the train station. 

Hikari turned to look at Aone, once again admiring his, in fact quite stoic, side profile as he took in the city, “Well, my Aunt’s place is that way.” She pointed behind her.

No words, but he simply just cocked his head in the direction of his brother’s home, which was sadly opposite to Hikari’s destination. 

She rocked back and forth on her heels as she nodded, not particularly excited to leave the boy’s company just yet. 

“Goodbye, Hikari.” Aone bowed slightly. She bursted into a fit of giggles at the odd formality of it all, although it was to be expected from such a serious looking guy. But she bowed back, not wanting to be rude. 

“Goodbye, Aone.”

As the two parted ways, Hikari still kept a small smile on her face. 

She really hoped that they would meet again. 


	3. The Practice Match

Thankfully, Hikari didn’t have to wait very long to see Aone again. She shouldn’t have been shocked to see Dateko scheduled for a practice match roughly a week after she returned from her weekend in Tokyo- she did have her own copy of the schedule. 

But then again, she was more of an emotional support manager than a planning things manager. 

The entire school day before the match she was very excited, nearly vibrating in her seat with all of the energy and anticipation of seeing him again. 

There was just something about him that Hikari just found so... so interesting, and sort of endearing. She would've thought that such an intimidating presence on the court would translate, but with Aone it didn't. He was so reserved and respectful. 

And for someone who seemed to be the exact _opposite_ of the quiet boy- loud, impulsive- she was inexplicably drawn to him.

Hikari nearly flew out of the classroom after the final chime, signalling that the school day was over, and she bounded towards the locker room to get changed into her manager’s uniform. By the time Kiyoko had gotten to the locker room, Hikari was already dressed.

“You seem extra happy to be going to practice today.” She stated as she began to change into her own uniform. Hikari took a seat as she waited for Kiyoko.

“Just excited for this practice match against Dateko! We haven't played them since the tournament.” She tried to come off as nonchalant as she could, but that was nearly impossible.

Hikari was always one to wear her emotions on her sleeve. Although she only ever seemed to be happy, and happier, it was evident to Kiyoko that this was a different kind of happy. 

“Is that it?” She asked. She knew that she didn’t have to try to get Hikari to tell her something, if there was something on her mind, she would just say it.

“I think that their middle blocker is, like, really interesting, and cute, and stuff,” The words came out so fast and choppy that Kiyoko barely understood what her friend had said, “I’m really excited to see him again. We were on the same train to Tokyo when I went to visit my aunt. He’s really nice.” 

“The one with no eyebrows?” She questioned. Hikari nodded fervently.

Kiyoko laughed as she gave her friend a pat on the head, “If that’s your type Hikari then go for it.”

Hikari pushed herself out of her seat as she followed Kiyoko out the door, jokingly sticking her tongue out at her friend, “Well, I will.” A fit of giggles spilled from her mouth.

The two of them made their way to the gym, greeted by a chorus of hellos from the team. All of the guys were warming up, getting ready to once again face the iron wall.

Knowing how nervous he was last time, she weaved her way to Asahi who was finishing up the last of his stretches. Hikari crouched down beside him, wrapping her arms around her legs.

“Hey there.” She cocked her head to the side with a smile. Asahi looked a little tense- not as tense as he was at the tournament, but still rigid. 

“Hey.” Was all he said, focusing particularly hard on stretching his left calf. 

“Are we feeling good today?” She asked, nudging him a little bit.. 

“I think so, yeah.” He gave her a weary smile. Hikari let out a huff as she uncrossed her arms.

“You don’t think so,” She gave him a firm smack on the back, “you KNOW so.” And with a grin and a thumbs up, she stood back up and made her way back to the sidelines of the court, picking up the clipboard on the bench. 

During practice matches, Hikari was in charge of keeping track of the scores of each set and who scored what points. She secretly suspected that Ukai and Tadeka gave her this job in order to keep her quiet and more focused during practice matches. But she didn’t mind, keeping track helped her learn the game a little better each time. 

She tried to occupy herself as she waited for Dateko (or more importantly, Aone) to arrive at the Karasuno gym. As the boys began to warm up their serves she helped retrieve some of the stray balls, encouraging all of the guys after each of their serves. 

Then, after what felt like forever, out of the corner of her eye she saw a group outside of the gym. Her neck snapped towards the open door and a smile broke out across her face when she saw Aone.

“Hey you guys,” She cleared her throat trying to get her team’s attention, “They’re here!” And she pointed towards the door. 

The boys picked up the rest of the loose volleyballs and Coach Ukai called them onto one side of the court. Hikari followed Karasuno, but kept her eyes on the gym doors, waiting for her favorite middle blocker to walk through so she could say hi.

Dateko entered the gym and immediately went to set their things down by their bench. 

She felt nervous, which was out of character for her. She _never_ got nervous talking to people. But the thought of trying to talk to Aone in front of both teams made her hands feel clammy. On the train their conversation had been so nice, so private between the two of them. She didn’t know if she would even get a response from him with more people around. 

But Hikari was sly, even a bit cheeky when it came to her wits. When she walked in with Kiyoko, she had set her water bottle and bag down by the other side of the court, near where Dateko would be. It gave her an excuse to be casual about walking over to them. 

She stepped away from the team and went to move her things.

The universe had blessed Hikari today- Aone was setting his bag on the end of the bench closest to her.

She bent down to grab her bag and her water bottle and as she stood up she smiled at him.

“Hi, Aone.” 

One of his teammates beside him looked over at the two of them, slightly confused as to why this girl was trying to talk to Aone.

He looked incredibly stiff when she addressed him, but after a beat of silence between the two he nodded softly, “Hello, Hikari.”

She could just melt every time Aone opened his mouth, his voice was so smooth, so tender in her ears. Hikari leaned one shoulder against the gym wall, “How was your visit with your brother?” She asked.

A couple more of the Dateko players were now tuned into what was happening near the end of the bench. Knowing that Aone was renowned for being a man of few words, they were curious to see how long this girl would last in his silence.

“Good,” He paused for a moment, “…And you?”

Hikari nearly jumped off of the wall in delight when he not only answered her question (barely, but good enough for her) but he also asked her a question in return- like, a real conversation. 

“It was really good! It was so nice to see my Aunt Mei. I felt like I hadn’t seen her in ages, and we got everything packed up quicker than we thought so we were…” She began to dive into a story about her weekend with Mei, and the Dateko boys who were listening were stunned, to say the least. 

This could qualify for a two-sided conversation, something that Aone rarely had.

Hikari was halfway through telling Aone about a man who snored loudly on the train ride back when the Dateko coach stopped her.

“Hey! Manager!” He stood next to Aone with his arms crossed and a very frustrated look on his face, “Don’t distract my players.” Was all he said to Hikari before telling the team to warm up. 

She sheepishly tucked her hair behind her ear, “Sorry…” Hikari mumbled, a hand covering her face to try and hide her embarrassment. She began to walk backwards, towards the Karasuno boys, and gave Aone a thumbs up and one more big smile before spinning around and joining her team once again.

He looked at her a few moments longer as she walked away before turning his attention back to his own team.

“Do you know her?” Futakuchi asked. 

Aone just nodded to his teammate before walking over to the court to begin his warmups.

  
  



	4. The Exchanging of Numbers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, struggling to find all of the different ways to say 'smile' while i write this fic

With a few breaks here and there, the practice match between the two teams went on well after the sun had set. After the final point of the night was scored and the set called, the exhaustion had set in on all of the boys seemingly all at once. 

Players on both sides were seated or lying down on the court trying to catch their breath, some were resting on their respective benches clutching on to their water bottles for dear life.

After some coaxing from their captains and coaches, each boy slowly began to get up from where they were and started to wrap up their night. The Karasuno boys began to take down the net and clean up the court while the Dateko team slowly but surely gathered their bags. 

Hikari felt exhausted just from watching the teams play against each other, always so tenacious with every move, every point. But it had been exciting to watch Aone play from the sidelines instead of the stands like she had at the tournament. The way that he carried himself during a game was mesmerizing for her to see, so calm and calculated on the court.

She got up from the seat she had taken on the bench and walked over to Takeda, scores in hand.

“Here,” Hikari handed the clipboard to Tadeka and pointed down to some scribbles she had made on the side of the paper, “I tried to mark down what kind of point it was- like if it was a service ace, or a spike, or something,” She explained the little symbols and key she had made for the scores. 

“Thank you, Hikari.” Tadeka gave her a pat on the shoulder and smiled. 

With that, she walked away and began helping and doing her part for cleaning up for the evening. One by one, she collected each player’s practice jersey in a laundry bag that was kept in the storage room so that she could wash them before she went home for the night. 

After collecting all of the jerseys, Hikari dipped into a back hallway and loaded the jerseys into one of the school’s washing machines. The laundry room was dingy and dimly lit. Throughout the course of seasons, all sports teams used the washer to clean practice jerseys and towels provided from the school. She didn’t think that they had gotten a new washer since it had been installed, who knows how long ago. 

Once she finished setting the cycle, Hikari mindlessly skipped her way back down the hallway and into the gym. It felt emptier before and she quickly realized why- Dateko had left. 

Frazzled that she didn’t get to say goodbye to Aone, she jogged over to Kiyoko.

“They left?” 

Kiyoko nodded, “Yeah,” Then a small, knowing smile appeared on her face, “But they probably haven’t even reached the parking lot yet.”

That was all Hikari needed. She grabbed her bag and rummaged through to find her phone before bolting out of the gym towards the school’s parking lot. 

She didn’t particularly know what she was doing, or what she was going to say, but that didn't matter as the teal and white jackets came into her sight.

A wide smile stretched across her face as she shouted out, “Aone!” she threw a hand up in the air, waving at him.

The entire team stopped in their tracks to turn around and look at the girl sprinting at full speed towards the Dateko boy. Aone, who had been walking up front with Futakuchi, carefully slid past the rest of his teammates and now stood at the back of the group, watching Hikari run. 

As she approached, she tried to skid to a stop. But finesse was also absent from her list of strengths and she tripped over her own foot, stumbling towards the ground. Instead of being met with concrete, she felt two hands grab her and swiftly bring her back to her feet. 

Hikari took a moment to catch her breath- for one, there was a reason she preferred being a manager over a player. But second of all, she was now blushing like crazy over the way that Aone had so effortlessly caught her and stopped her fall. He had strong hands. She hoped that he would think that the flushed look on her face was from running. 

“Um,” She was thinking incredibly hard about what to say. Aone was just staring at her, along with the rest of the team a few yards behind him, “So, um..” 

It was rare for Hikari to be at a loss for words. For the first time, there was not a single thought going through her head. All she could do was just look at him, her brow creased as she searched for anything, just a sentence to come out of her mouth before she made this interaction any more… ungraceful than it already was. But thankfully, a lightbulb flickered on in the space between her ears. 

“You never told me what kind of cake you have for your birthday.” She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, chewing on it, she cringed slightly at how awkward this must’ve been sounding. 

Aone was a little confused. She had sprinted from the gym to the parking lot to ask him about a birthday cake? He just stood there, unsure what to do. She was hung up on… cake flavors.

Hikari took another deep breath in, “So, if you ever figure it out,” Whipping out her phone from her back pocket, tapped on the screen for a second, and she extended it out to Aone, “Maybe you could text me and… let me know.”

_ … OH _ . the dots were connecting in his mind, maybe. This was an excuse to get his number. 

No girl had ever asked before.

A smile settled on Hikari’s face as she relaxed back into her natural, grinning state. This was lame, and dorky, but at least she was  _ trying _ to get his number. She wasn’t ready to wait who knows how long to talk to him again- and those digits were the first step.

She held her phone out for a few moments more, and she began to worry that he actually wouldn’t take it which would just make this interaction even more painful than it already was. But then, Hikari was able to witness one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen in her life.

Aone smiled at her.

Not one of the fleeting upward curves of the corner of his lips that she had thought she imagined during the train ride. But an actual smile. Enough of one that it stayed on his face as he gently grabbed her phone from her hand and caused the smallest of crinkles near the corners of his eyes. 

As he put his number in, he looked and saw that she had already put in his name:

‘Aone! :)’

Her enthusiasm carried over anywhere, he thought to himself. It was endearing and made his stomach flutter at the thought of before even getting his number that she already put a smile next to his name.

He looked back up at Hikari, a soft curve still etched on his lips, as he handed her phone back, and the feeling in his stomach intensified as she squealed in delight. Even with only the dim fluorescent light coming from the parking lot, she shined in his eyes.

Aone really was happy that she had asked. But, in the back of his mind, he just found it a little odd, her a little odd- he wasn’t aware of any girl that had ever liked him. Normally he came off too intimidating for anyone outside of the volleyball team and a few other classmates to approach. 

The two of them seemed to be from different planets, polar opposites in behavior. Not to put himself down, but Aone had just never really thought that someone like her; so warm, so open and bold… would pay any mind to someone so reserved. 

But he wasn’t about to question her because, after all, he wanted her number as well. 

“Thank you, Aone!” She reached over and squeezed his arm, “I’ll let you and the team go now, sorry for holding everyone up!” She waved past Aone, at the rest of the Dateko team. 

“Goodbye, Hikari.” He said softly.

“Goodbye, Aone,” She waved then pointed to her phone, “I’ll talk to you soon.” And then the two parted ways, once again.

As he continued his walk with his teammates back to the bus, Futakuchi fell in step with him.

“So what was that?” He asked with a sly smile, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Aone just looked to the side and shrugged at Futakuchi, the corners of his lips still turned slightly upwards. 

The boys all boarded the bus and Aone settled into his seat, exhausted from the practice. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, thinking about how he wished he could be in his bed already.But it wasn’t long until he felt his coat pocket vibrate.

**_[ Unknown Number ]_ **

**[ aone! hello! it’s hikari!!!! ]**

_**[ Aone! :) ]** _

**[ Hello.]**

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**[ sorry if i put you on the spot just now omg!! i didnt mean to but when i got back from putting the practice jerseys in the wash you guys had already left and i was like ‘oh shoot i didnt get to say goodbye to aone!!! and then i was like well!!! phones exist hikari so if you dont want to wait to talk to him again until the next time the two teams play maybe you should do something about that!!!! so i did :) because you seem really cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ]**

**[but also i AM still curious about that cake flavor so i wasnt completely lying!!!! i love a nice baked good :)))))) ]**

She even rambled in texts, Aone smiled to himself.

_**[ Aone! :) ]** _

**[ It is ok, Hikari.]**

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**[ also good job at the practice match today it was really fun to watch you play :D]**

**[ youre like, really good at it too! do you like playing????]**

_**[ Aone! :) ]** _

**[ Thank you. ]**

**[ Yes. ]**

Aone paused for a moment, twiddling his thumbs before he continued typing

_**[ Aone! :) ]** _

**[ Do you? ]**

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**[ like playing volleyball? ]**

_**[ Aone! :) ]** _

**[ Yes ]**

_**[ Hikari! :D ]** _

**[ well i dont play because i have like zerooo coordination but i really enjoy watching it!!!!! i didnt really know much about volleyball until i started managing with kiyoko this year!! ]**

**[ its actually a funny story how i started managing ]**

**[ actually wait hold on one sec ]**

Aone waited as the three dots on the bottom of his screen kept disappearing and reappearing. He felt lucky that she could look past his quietness, because he really, really enjoyed her company the few times they had crossed paths. And he felt charmed that she was confident enough to ask for his number, something he didn’t think he could do if she hadn’t. 

After a few minutes, his phone buzzed with Hikari’s name once again. Except it wasn’t a paragraph, like he was expecting.

_**[ Hikari! :D ]** _

**[ Voice Memo: 0:00 ❍──────── -3:42 ]**

**[ lol sorry its longer than i thought it would be but sooooo much easier than typing a novel !!!!!!!!!!! ]**

Aone smiled to himself and relaxed further in his seat. Phone still in one hand, he used the other to dig through his bag for his headphones. Untangling the wires he put them in and leaned his head against the bus window, closing his eyes as he let Hikari’s voice echo in his ears on the ride home.


	5. The Ice Cream Shop

Hikari and Aone’s names frequently appeared in each others’ notifications for the next two weeks. For the most part it was mindless babbles from Hikari, or a picture of a flower she really liked on her walk home from school, or it would be Aone sending a thumbs up emoji in response to said picture or telling her about his day.

With each text, Hikari slowly started to get more syllables out of the quiet boy.

**[ Hikari! :D ]**

_**[ aone! how was practice today? :))) ]** _

**[ Aone! :) ]**

_**[ It was good. We mostly did two-on-two’s so I am pretty exhausted. ]** _

**[ Hikari! :D ]**

**_[ what are 2v2s??? ]_**

**[ Aone! :) ]**

**_[ It is when it is two players playing against two players. It is fun because all of the plays happen so quickly but since it is just two players it can be very hard work and very tiring. ]_**

**[ Hikari! :D ]**

_**[ i bet!!!!!!!!! that sounds like a lot of running around!!!!! but im glad you had fun!! ]** _

**[ Aone! :) ]**

_**[ :) ]** _

**[ Hikari! :D ]**

_**[ :P ]** _

She had begun to look forward to the brief and sporadic conversations throughout the day. With him not being a natural chatty-Cathy like she was, Hikari wanted to make him feel comfortable in their conversations. Volleyball was a topic that she knew she could always fall back on with him. 

After some casual prodding throughout the days, Hikari learned a lot about Aone. 

He enjoyed going for morning runs through the park by his house, he said that it helped him start his day with a clear head. There was a pond that was along the path that he could stop by and he would count how many ducks there were, or if there were any interesting animal tracks in the softened mud along the side of the running path.

Most days, while Hikari was on her way to school, her phone would buzz and under Aone’s name would simply read

**_[ Seven ducks today. ]_ **

Aone was also very into old American sitcoms. He didn’t have great marks in his english classes, but that didn’t seem to stop him- his favorites were The Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island. He found it as a way to relax, especially after stressful matches or tournaments- calming to watch Jan adjust to having to get glasses or Gilligan dreaming he’s a spy. It was something about the predictability of it all that made them so easy to watch.

No ill will towards Aone, but him enjoying the predictability of sitcoms didn’t come as a shock to Hikari because he was, in fact, a predictable person. After a few days of texting, Hikari was able to figure out his daily routine, and how it ran like clockwork. 

Aone never responded after 10 p.m., and would always answer the previous night’s text at roughly 6:17 the next morning (it had happened almost exactly at that time each morning, so Hikari concluded that his alarm went off at 6:15). The messages about the ducks would always appear in her notification tab while the two both made their way to their respective schools, and then it would be radio silence until he had his lunch break at noon. 

As Hikari would walk to the girl’s locker room to change, she would shoot him a message along the lines of having fun at practice, and he would respond with a ‘thank you’ and a thumbs up emoji. That would be it until later in the evening. She figured out that he didn’t go on his phone until after he got home and ate dinner with his mother- Hikari later learned that was because since he had volleyball and she often had a hectic work schedule, the only time they had together during the week was dinner. 

She thought that was tooth-achingly sweet, to have this little routine with his mom to make time for one another, which made her like the boy even more. 

But texting wasn’t as good as actually hearing him, and she didn’t have the courage yet to ask him if he would ever want to hang out not on a train or at volleyball practices. 

She still couldn't quite place her finger on it, but there was just something about him that caused her to gravitate towards the boy. Maybe it was the way that he looked at her while she spoke to him on the train. Hikari had grown used to people tuning her out and she didn't mind it, really. But when she rambled to Aone he had looked... genuinely interested in whatever she had been saying. And he didn't grumble under his breath, or call her annoying, which was incredibly refreshing to not hear those words come out of a volleyball player's mouth. But maybe it was the way that she simply just yearned to know the quiet boy, to know what he liked or disliked, or what his favorite type of berry was, or what playlists he has public and private on Spotify. When she thought about him, Hikari wanted to be the one listening. 

Luckily, Hikari’s positive attitude must’ve rewarded her a lot of good karma in life because she didn’t need to ask him to hang out in order to see him again.

It was the first Saturday in August, Hikari and her dad drove into downtown to run some errands- going to the garden center to pick up some more fertilizer and supplies for their garden, picking out a late birthday gift for her aunt Mei (her dad won’t admit that he forgot his sister’s birthday), a few other random stops that he had to take care of since they were in downtown anyways, and they would probably stop and pick up dinner before heading home.

Hikari enjoyed spending time with her dad. While she didn’t get her chattiness from him, she definitely got the positive attitude from him. He was always so supportive and caring when she was growing up, and he always made time to show her how to garden, which was his favorite thing to do when he wasn’t stuck at the office.

She loved the idea of gardening, but she seemed to be missing a green thumb- without fail every year she would accidentally kill one of the plants her father would put her in charge of.

Whenever they drove into downtown they made a whole afternoon of it- walking slowly and window shopping as they made their way to each destination. Her dad parked at the garden center, since they could just put their supplies in the trunk and not worry about having it for the rest of the day.

They winded through the narrow streets as they searched for the perfect gift for Aunt Mei. Hikari's eyes landed on a small antique store and tugged on her dad’s sleeve.

“Mei loves this kind of stuff,” Hikari said, “Plus she just moved into her new house so I’m sure she could use something in terms of decorating.” 

He nodded, following his daughter inside. The two of them wandered around the store, occasionally holding up an ornate vase or pointing to a painting, asking the other’s opinion. 

Although the antique store was small, they spent nearly an hour trying to decide what to get Mei. Towards the back, Hikari finally found something that she just knew her aunt would love. 

It was a painting of a tea house, and the colors of the flowers and foliage surrounding it matched the colors that Mei had told her she was planning on painting the inside of the house. It was on the smaller side, so it fit neatly in the bag after her dad had paid for it. 

The two of them exited the store, feeling accomplished. Hikari’s dad began to rattle off the rest of the things he needed to do while they were in the downtown area.

“I have to go pick some things up for work at a few different stores, and my boss had some prints delivered for our next meeting so I offered to run to the post and pick them up…” Her father continued, but Hikari had stopped listening about half of a 'to-do' in. She was far too focused on the head of white hair she could see through the windows of an ice cream shop across the street. 

Aone was standing with his back towards the window, but she knew it was him. It was confirmed when a shorter lady, probably his mother, handed him a cup with a scoop of ice cream and walked out of the shop, and Hikari absolutely lit up at the sight of him.

He didn’t see her at first, preoccupied with the group of people that followed behind him- a few adults and some younger children with ice cream already smudged across their faces.

“One second dad,” She paused the to-do list he was telling her as she skipped across the street, “Aone!”

Aone was listening to his mother and aunts fuss over the children when he heard Hikari call his name. Before he even looked up to see, he knew it was her voice. She was bounding towards him and Aone found a smile automatically breaking out across his face as he waved to her. He stepped away from the rest of his family and closer to the street to meet his favorite Karasuno manager. 

When Hikari saw him grin as she called his name she felt the air knocked out of her. A full smile with  _ teeth _ ? She was one lucky girl.

This time as she approached Aone, she was able to stop herself in front of him without falling over, although she wouldn’t mind an excuse to feel his hands around her again. 

His family’s conversations had quieted as they looked over at Aone and his friend. No one had ever really seen him with anybody outside of the volleyball team, including his mother- so of course they were curious as to who was practically flying across the busy street to say hi.

“What brings you to downtown?” Hikari asked, rocking back and forth on her heels, hands clasped behind her back. 

“I have family visiting from out of town. My mom thought it would be nice to bring them out here for an afternoon.” He gestured towards the group of adults and the children running around outside of the ice cream shop.

“Aww,” Hikari cooed, bringing her hands up to her cheek, “Spending a day downtown is always a nice afternoon! And how lovely of you to help your mother and show them around!” 

Aone nodded, but he still held a small smile on his lips, “How about you?” He asked.

“Oh! My dad and I are here running some errands,” She turned around and waved her dad over, who was still standing in front of the antique store across the street, “We just found this wonderful little painting at that store for my aunt!” 

As Hikari’s dad made his way across the street, Aone’s mother placed a hand on his arm.

“Takanobu, a friend from school?” She looked over at Hikari.

His mother had a pleasant smile, Hikari thought to herself. It was chaste, but polite. She didn’t have to guess that it was Aone’s mother, the stark white hair was a dead giveaway. 

“From volleyball.” He looked down towards his mother.

Hikari bowed slightly, then stuck out her hand, “Hikari, I’m one of the managers for the Karasuno Boys Volleyball Team. I met your son during the Inter High Tournament in June! Wonderful, wonderful player!” The second his mother took her hand, Hikari shook it fervently and beamed. 

“Karasuno!” Aone’s mother looked between the two, “You guys have been making a name for yourself this season!” 

Hikari did her best to act modest, shrugging and attempting a bashful smile, but she was very proud of all of the players, “I’m really lucky that I decided to manage, they’re a feat to watch on the court. And they’re just a really good, fun group of guys to be around! Love them to bits!” 

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to see her dad, who was now introducing himself to Aone and his mother. 

“Hikari,” She faced towards her dad as he addressed her, “I’m going to go run my other errands. It’s just boring work stuff so if you’d like we can just meet back at the garden center in an hour or so? And you can stay to chat with your friend?” 

She nodded in agreement as he kissed the top of her head and said his goodbyes to Aone and his family. Hikari internally thanked her father for being an accidental wing-man and allowing her to think of an excuse to steal him away from his family.

“Umm..” Hikari popped her lips as she tried to think of something to say, “So, there’s this like, really good coffee shop a ways away so I think I’m gonna go walk there while my dad runs his errands..” 

Hikari looked between Aone and his mother, “Ma’am, if you and the rest of your family don’t mind, could I steal Aone from you all for a bit? It’s, like, a twenty minute walk and it would be nice to have the company,” She trailed off, paused, and then smacked her hand over her face in embarrassment, “Oh my goodness, nevermind! I totally just, like, interrupted your nice family day when I ran over here! I shouldn’t be intruding anymore than I already have! Nevermind me! And plus that was like super, super presumptuous of me to assume that Aone would even want to come with I didn’t mean to put anyone in an awkward pos-” 

Aone’s mother interrupted her apologetic ramble as she shooed her son towards Hikari.

“Oh it is not intrusion at all! Takanobu! Be a gentleman and escort this lovely girl on her walk! I can handle the family on my own for a while, go have fun! Be young!” She waved them off coyly as the two of them began to walk to the coffee shop.

Aone looked back at his mother and became red in the face when she gave him a thumbs up and a wink.


	6. The Walk

The streets were fairly crowded since it was a Saturday and the weather was so nice. Families in search of a sweet treat for their kids, groups of girls bouncing from store to store, and couples taking a stroll with their dogs all weaved around and between Hikari and Aone. 

Hikari had no issue keeping up with Aone’s naturally long strides, seeing as the skip in her step put them at an equal match for pace. As she babbled on about her day, Aone just nodded and listened as he ate his ice cream.

“So what kind of flavor did you get?” She asked as he took the spoon out of his mouth.

“Lemon sorbet.”

Hikari puckered her face slightly, “I think I’m more of, like, a vanilla person- like flavor-wise. So many things go with it, you know? Like it can be such a blank canvas, vanilla can go with fruits, or subtle flavors like lavender, or honey, or it can go with something like cinnamon or toffee… But lemon is a very nice flavor too. I think it can be pretty tart sometime, though. But I like citrus flavors a lot, too.”

“Yeah,” Aone looked down at her by his side, “I like how tart it is, though. It's sour, but in a fun way.” 

She just nodded, and took a mental note of the flavor for later, “So what were you and your family up to today?” 

He shrugged, “My mother’s side doesn’t visit very often, they live south of Tokyo so it’s a long trip for them to make. Last night we took them out to dinner. And after they all finish shopping, my mother wants me to take my cousins to an arcade or a movie.”

“Well that’ll be fun! I love going to the movies with my dad! A few weeks ago, he took me to see this new superhero one and I’m not normally a big hero person, you know? Like, I just try to avoid the whole overly violent robot guys and the moral ambiguity of super heroes, and all that stuff- but it was so cool! Just, like, so action packed, and the effects were absolutely out of this world, ” Hikari beamed at him, “Did you buy anything fun before I snagged you away from your family day?” 

Aone shook his head, “Not really. I’m not much of a shopper.” 

Hikari hummed in acknowledgement as she listened to Aone speak. She was just ecstatic that he had become more comfortable talking with her. While she had no issue holding up a one-sided conversation, she just couldn’t help the way that she had butterflies every time she got to hear his voice.

“I think she was glad you asked me to come with you to get coffee,” Aone continued, “She had been complaining about not being able to look for a gift for me while I was around.”

Hikari gasped dramatically and grabbed Aone’s arm, “Your birthday! It’s next week! The thirteenth, right?” 

She remembered. Hikari had remembered his birthday, and that made him feel warm and bubbly inside. 

He had never been one to make a big deal out of his birthday, he doubted that his teammates even knew his birthday was next week. But she remembered. This girl with the contagious smile, who was practically the human equivalent of sunshine, and had just accidentally stumbled into his life, remembered his birthday.

It was a very nice feeling. He knew that he was nothing like her, always giving off intense, brooding energy even when he didn’t necessarily mean to. So, it gave him a warm feeling in his stomach that she had paid enough attention to his few words to remember.

“It is,” Aone nudged her with a smile, “And I still don’t have an answer for what flavor my cake will be.”

Hikari just laughed and shook her head as they continued their walk to the cafe. She had to tuck her bottom lip between her teeth to stop from smiling too hard, thinking about how closely they were walking together. 

This was incredibly close to being what someone could maybe, quite possibly call a date, Hikari and Aone both thought to themselves. They were getting coffee, just the two of them- and that certainly qualified as a date in most romance novels and TV shows. Yet, neither of them could quite admit to the other that they could think of this as a date. They were too preoccupied with keeping their cool around one another.

Both of them were trying their hardest to not seem too excited, too flustered, about the small exchanges of touches they had been sharing so far along the walk. 

It was like the two of them were playing a game in their own heads, testing the waters against one another to see how many stray touches they could get away with without being caught by the other. 

The way that Hikari walked was so loose, and careless, her arms swung by her side with each bounce in her step. The first time she did it, it really was an accident. With such a crowded walkway the two were fairly close together. And always so animated when she spoke, while explaining why she thought this coffee was ‘probably the best she had ever had in her whole, whole life’, her hand accidentally brushed Aone’s as she lifted it upwards to mimic how pour-over coffee was made. She didn’t think much of it at first, but when she looked over at him, Hikari caught the redness in his cheeks. So as they continued to the cafe, she made sure to ‘accidentally’ graze her fingertips against the back of his hand, or softly nudge into his side every so often. She liked the way he would become silently flustered, the way that a soft pink would bloom on his cheeks.

Aone had also found that the bustling street had ample opportunity for his own fleeting touches. No offense to her, but Hikari was very bad at paying attention to her surroundings. Every few minutes or so, she would nearly run into someone and Aone would gently grab her arm and move her out of a shopper’s way. Each time he did, Hikari would stumble over her words for a brief moment before returning back to an in depth ranking of her favorite flavorings to add into her coffee. It was the way that she would start to form a word but only a giggle would come out as his hand was wrapped around her arm that he took notice of. There were several times where they had to weave their way through families that were clustered together on the sidewalk, and each time Aone’s hand would find its way to the small of Hikari’s back, guiding her through the crowds. 

She wished that he would’ve just kept it there, even when they were past the crowds.

As they got closer to the coffee shop, the more dense the sidewalks became. Now having to constantly weave through people, and without much thought other than not wanting Aone to lose her in the crowd, Hikari laced her fingers in his and worked her way through the crowds. 

“We’re almost there,” She pulled him closer to her as the free space on the sidewalk became tighter, “It’s just off of a side street up here.” 

Her hands felt so small in his, he thought to himself, looking down at their intertwined fingers. Aone tried his hardest to focus on something other than how soft her palms felt compared to his because he knew that his hands would start to clam up.

But all too soon, Hikari yanked his arm and dragged him around the corner onto a much quieter part of downtown. As soon as they were out of the crowd she released his hand, to his disappointment. 

‘Sorry,” She brushed some loose hairs from her face, “It was like a maze back there, getting through all of those people.”

Aone just nodded.

Although there were far fewer people around them now, Hikari still kept little space between her and Aone. She enjoyed being close to him. He wasn’t just physically bigger than her, but his presence was enormous. Being close to him just made her feel safe, secure.

“So what do you think your mom is going to get you for your birthday?” Hikari asked.

He shrugged, “I don’t know,” Aone looked at the girl, who was still staring at him expectantly, “Um, she is making kuri kinton, though. It’s the only other time we have it aside from New Year’s celebrations.” 

“Nice!” Hikari exclaimed, “I’m sure that’ll be yummy.”

“Do you, uh,” He cleared his throat, “Do you do anything fun on your birthday?”

“Not particularly,” Hikari shook her head, “Normally my dad and I just go to a movie or something and order in. It’s pretty laid back. But I do bake my own cake which is fun.” 

“You bake your own cake?” Aone asked. 

“Yeah, while my dad is a pretty decent cook he can’t bake to save his life,” She giggled at the thought of her dad’s failed birthday cakes from when she was younger, “But I don’t mind making my own birthday cake. I love to bake.”

She was about to continue on about her interest in baking, but Hikari saw the awning of the coffee shop come into sight, which immediately changed her train of thought, “Hey! There it is!”

As they walked over, Hikari gave Aone the run down, once again, on why she loved this place so much.

“…I honestly think it must be something about the beans that they use for their coffee here! It just has that certain… that certain… like thing to it, you know? And they have all sorts of nice flavor options and non dairy options! Some places are still on the only milk and almond milk train, but this place has oatmilk, cashew milk, coconut milk, flax milk…” Hikari rattled off the surprisingly long list of dairy alternatives.

Aone didn’t even know that there was such a thing as flax milk. Or that there were so many alternatives to putting sugar in a drink- according to Hikari there was even such a thing as ‘beet sugar.’ He didn’t even like coffee, like at all. But he didn’t have the heart to tell her as she was practically skipping through the shop doors. 

As the air conditioning hit Aone’s face, he felt himself relax. He hadn’t realized how warm it had gotten outside until he felt how chill it was inside the coffee shop- it felt nice, though. Refreshing. There were a handful of other people inside, scattered across tables, sipping on various drinks. Everyone here seemed so… cool. The baristas had an aloof aura to them and funky hair. Not usually his scene. 

He was taken out of his train of thought as he felt Hikari tug on his shirt sleeve.

“Would you like anything?” 

Aone shook his head, “No, thank you. I don’t like coffee.” 

“They have more than just coffee here, silly,” She shook her head with a grin as she nudged his arm, “They have tea, too. Or even just some water? It’s getting pretty hot out, I don’t want you to die of heat stroke or dehydration.” 

He pondered for a moment, “A green tea. Iced, please.”

She nodded and stepped towards the counter.

“Hi,” She dragged out the ‘i’ as she greeted the barista, “May I please have an iced green tea and… tch, tch, tch,” Hikari quickly scanned the menu, “And an iced honey-lavender latte, with oat milk please?”

The barista entered the order into the system, “Anything else?” 

“That’ll be it, thank you!” 

Aone took a step forward, standing beside Hikari as he took out his wallet. The second it was out of his pocket, her hand flew over his and pushed his hand down, shaking her head.

“No, no, no,” She took out her own wallet and handed the money to the barista, “It’s my treat.” 

“At least let me-” He began.

But for the first time ever, Hikari interrupted him. As much as she loved that he was comfortable with actually, like, talking to her now, she wasn’t going to have it.

“Aone, please. It’s my treat, I don’t mind.” 

The two of them walked to the other end of the counter and waited for their drinks.

As they waited, Hikari leaned back into Aone’s chest and looked up at him with a cheesy grin on her face, “But, I mean, if you really want to pay that bad… I’ll let you pay next time.” And then she straightened herself back up. Aone had to resist the urge of wrapping his arm around her and pulling her closer while the two waited. Whatever was between them just simply felt so… so natural. The way that her head rested so gently against his chest, and how her hair bumped up slightly when she tilted her head back. He wished that their drinks would take forever to be ready. 

But their drinks were out fairly quickly and Hikari stepped away from Aone, plucking them off of the counter. She swirled her cup around a few times, examining the ratio of milk to coffee, before taking a sip with a satisfied look on her face. 

Hikari handed Aone’s tea to him as she scanned the shop for the right place to sit, before pointing towards a spot by the window.

He couldn’t help but let a smile blossom onto his face. As Hikari led him to the quiet window seat in the front corner of the coffee shop, he continued to think back to how it felt to have her lean into his chest. It felt so comfortable. And the smile continued to grow as her words repeated in his head. 

_ Next time? _


	7. The Table by the Window

“I like window seats. I think it's fun to people watch.” She took a sip of her latte.

He nodded, following her gaze out the window. Across from the cafe was a flower shop, overflowing with different plants through the open windows. There were a few people wandering through, occasionally leaning over to smell a flower or to examine a succulent.

“I feel like I don’t know much about you.” Aone turned his attention back to Hikari as she spoke, her chin resting in her palm. She had her brows pulled together slightly. While her eyes still looked soft, Hikari seemed to be looking straight through him which made Aone straighten up in his seat. 

He just shrugged. 

Aone felt bad about not being able to keep up the conversation anymore, but he couldn’t help the feeling of his social battery running low. After spending the last day with family, having to help his mom entertain and keep his cousins occupied, plus being way more engaged in conversation than he normally would be, he was starting to feel a bit exhausted from it all. 

This was all just stuff he wasn’t used to. He’s always been quiet- not necessarily in the shy way, he just didn’t have much to say. So, as he got older, no one really expected him to talk back. His teammates, like Futakuchi, had adjusted to his nods, learning to read his face. It was odd to him, for someone to actually want to listen, to encourage him to talk.

And Hikari noticed.

“Are you kind of, like, done?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Hm?” 

“Like, has this been a lot? I know I have a bit of a motormouth which can be harder to keep pace with for someone, you know… who isn’t, like, typically a chatty person..” She said softly. 

For as much as she lacked awareness for her surroundings most of the time, Hikari was incredibly observant of those around her. This skill came in handy quite often during her time as manager on the volleyball team, knowing exactly what to say, or what to do, based on how the team was acting. And she knew that she was probably a lot more to handle than what Aone was used to, and she wanted to be sensitive to that. She enjoyed his company and didn’t want to taint their time together by wearing him down.

“Oh,” He looked down at his tea, titling the cup from side to side and watching the ice cubes float around, “I guess.”

Hikari hummed in response, leaning back into her seat. Her brow furrowed further and her face scrunched up as she thought about how they could meet in the middle on this one- she never had an issue carrying conversations on her own, but she actually did want to get to know the boy sitting across from her. 

After a few moments of pondering, she sat back up and took another sip of her latte.

“Do you want to play, like, an abridged twenty questions or something? One word answers will be accepted,” Hikari grinned at him, hopeful, “But if not, that’s totally fine, we can just chill here for a bit before I have to head back to the garden center. I’m happy either way.” 

Aone gave her a small smile and nodded. Hikari clasped her hands together with glee

“Wonderful!” She sipped from her drink as she thought of her first question, “Favorite color.”

“Blue.

“Blue is a really pretty color. I really like the shade of blue that blueberries are, y’know? But I think that my favorite color is probably green,” She went on, “I used to always toss it up between green and purple but then one day I was sitting in my room and I looked around, and my walls are green. I have a lot of green clothes. Green is just always popping up in my life so I decided that green was my favorite color. But purple is still great too- like a nice lavender shade, or a lilac.”

Aone nodded, chuckling at her winded explanation.

“Favorite animal?” 

He shrugged, “Turtles are cool.” 

“Turtles _ARE_ pretty cool. One time, my dad and I were driving out to visit my grandpa out in the countryside and he, like, slammed on the breaks all of the sudden and was like ‘Hikari! A turtle!’ and he wanted to be a good person and move it out of the road, y’know…” She continued to speak animatedly as Aone listened.

He now mirrored how Hikari was seated before, his own chin resting in his palm, fingers resting against his cheek, as he looked at her, mesmerized by her over-the-top story telling. Aone had begun to notice that every time she started to go off on tangents, her face never relaxed. She always had this twinkle in her eye and the corners of her mouth always tugged upwards into a smile. She was always so expressive, as if every muscle in her body- face included- was doing its part to help tell the story. 

He noticed that her hands and her eyebrows were like a puppet and puppeteer- whenever she spoke so vibrantly her eyebrows would raise and furrow in step with the way that her hands flew around. It was quite entertaining to watch as much as it was to listen to her talk about this story of her dad and a turtle.

It was like even the most mundane things could be fantastical in her brain, maybe that’s why she liked him, Aone thought to himself. Maybe she was seeing something he didn’t.

“ …But, but, but, but, he had realized a little too late that it was a freaking snapping turtle!! It bit onto his shirt sleeve! He, like, totally freaked out.” Hikari laughed at the memory of her dad trying to get the snapping turtle off of his sleeve, then paused to take a breath, “I really like frogs.” She nodded matter-of-factly at her own statement. 

Aone smiled into his hand and nodded in agreement. 

“I was going to ask you what your favorite sport was, but I think that’s probably a stupid question, huh?” She tucked her hair behind her ear and then rested her hand against her neck, “Unless you’re going to absolutely  _ shock _ me and say it's something other than volleyball. Like... bass fishing. Or water polo.”

“Curling, actually.” 

Hikari threw her head back in a fit of laughter as she clapped her hands together, “You’re kidding. Like, with the thing and the broom? On ice?” 

“Yes.” He looked serious in his response, and her face fell. Hikari immediately felt horrible for laughing at him. 

“Oh, gosh, um,” She stuttered out, trying to backpedal, “I’m so sorry for laughing! I totally thought you were joking! I mean-”

“Hikari.”

“It’s an interesting sport, those people take it like, really seriously and-”

“Hikari.”

“Hm?” She looked at him, lips pressed together and eyes wide as she paused her profuse apologizing.

“I’m kidding.”

“Oh.” Was all she said before Aone started to chuckle and shake his head.

Hikari joined in, her hand smacked against her forehead, shocked at how gullible she was. But this had at least gotten a laugh out of Aone, the first real laugh she had ever heard of his. Similar to his voice, it was a fairly deep chuckle, but also very breathy and light. 

Hikari managed to get through a few more questions until she glanced down at her phone and realized the time.

“Oh! Shoot! We probably have to start heading back.” She stood up from the table, throwing her bag haphazardly over her shoulder, and grabbing the now empty cups from the table. Aone waited by the door for Hikari as she put the cups on the counter- she had always disliked leaving dirty dishes at a table when she was out, so she always tried to clean things up as best as possible before leaving to make the barista’s job a little less stressful. He held the door open for her as she skipped out. As they began their walk, Aone couldn’t help but to keep looking back at the flower shop, thinking hard if he should or not. The two of them made it about half of a block down the street when Aone decided that he  _ definitely _ should. 

He placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention, “One second.” Was all he said before he turned around and began digging in his pocket once again for his wallet. Hikari just stood there and watched him lightly jog across the street and into the flower shop, before quickly returning with something in hand.

She didn’t want to assume anything, but Hikari really, really hoped that those were for her. But maybe they were for his mother, or one of his visiting aunts, or-

Aone stuck them out awkwardly towards Hikari, “For you.” His arm was as straight as an arrow as he held them out to her, like a little kid showing off a crayola masterpiece to a parent. His other hand was shoved in his pocket, clenched in a nervous fist and painfully aware of how clammy it had become. 

It was a bundle of lavender, along with a few other wildflowers, wrapped in kraft paper. 

She didn’t even know what to say as she gingerly took them from his hand, her mouth slightly agape. 

“Aone-” She began, trying to think of something to say. 

“You sent me a picture of those last weekend. You found them on your walk to a market, and you sounded really excited about it.” 

Hikari looked up at him to meet his gaze, a slightly dumbfounded look on her face. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

She had, Hikari remembered. She was on her way to a farmer’s market and on her way she saw that someone had planted so much lavender that it covered nearly half of their front yard , and she thought that it was the prettiest sight. 

While Hikari was friendly, outgoing, and all of the things that made a wonderful person, she racked her brain hard to think of a time when a boy had liked her. Like, _liked her_ , liked her. Maybe she was just oblivious, but she had never gotten anything like a confession like Kiyoko had, and no guys had ever really looked at her the way that some girls look at Tsukishima and Kageyama. To be quite honest, when she first started managing, there had been some whispers amongst the boys on the team that she was, in fact, pretty- but that kind of thinking came to a screeching halt the second that she started to jabber. For some of them (most of them) it was hard to look past her flapping gums to see anything more than an annoying kid sister. Not that Hikari minded, she saw her team as brothers.

She knew that the chattiness was one of her downfalls- never quite knowing when to shut up most of the time, obviously.  But this guy, this quiet mountain of a man whose life she just wiggled her way into, didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t mind so much that he just bought her flowers, on a whim. 

Instead of trying to think of how to tell Aone how kind this gesture was, and how grateful she was, Hikari used her free hand to pull him down into a tight hug. It took him a second to process, but he soon wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her neck. He had to bend down a bit, seeing as that he had quite a bit more height than her.

“Thank you, Takanobu,” She whispered in his ear. The two stood like that for a moment more before Hikari pulled back, moving her hand from the back of his neck to briefly stroking his cheek with her thumb, “That was, like, really nice. Thank you.” 

Aone thought that he had seen all of the different kinds of smiles Hikari could give- the small, tight lipped one while she would nod her head as she listened to him speak to the one that would take up half of her face when she laughed really hard. But this one was different. It wasn’t a particularly big smile. It was soft and delicate on her face, but this was a smile that she wanted only him to see. It just nearly reached her eyes, crinkling them just barely as she beamed at him on the sidewalk. From her smile came a sense of home. 

“It was nothing,” He said, still locking eyes with her, his cheeks flushed, “I just thought you might like them.” 

Hikari scrunched her nose and shook her head as she finally broke their gaze.

“I do like them,” She swiftly, yet gently, grabbed his hand as she started walking again, intertwining their fingers, “And it wasn’t nothing.”

The two of them still had a blush on their cheeks, both of them still looking delighted as they began their way back to the garden center. And for the first time today, the two of them walked in silence.


	8. The Birthday (Part One)

For the next few days Hikari found herself in a bit of a bind: What to get Aone for his birthday. 

After Saturday, she was about ninety percent sure that he liked her back- he had bought her flowers and when she held his hand he didn’t pull away- but maybe (maybe) he was just being friendly. 

So she needed a gift that wasn’t too convenient, like a book or some candy, but also wasn’t too out there, like a bracelet or a three tiered cake. Hikari needed to find the perfect balance in a gift to where it could be seen as just a thoughtful friend or it could be seen as like ‘Oh this girl likes me in a very cool way! Nice!’ 

It was now Wednesday and she was running out of time. She had to come up with something today because she absolutely dreaded the thought of something worse than a convenient gift: a last minute gift. While Hikari wasn’t much of a planner, she enjoyed getting gifts for people- putting thought into something like a flower pot with a design she painted, or a baked good, or a weaved friendship bracelet. She enjoyed giving a little part of herself as a gift to others. Last minute gifts never sat well in her stomach, always feeling bad for not doing something with more thought behind it. 

And the pressure she was putting on herself to give the right gift was starting to stress her out. Even the guys noticed as she walked into the gym,  _ quietly _ .

Hikari’s brows had been in a permanent furrow all day, racking her brain. It shouldn’t be this hard to think of a gift, but it was. She had never gotten a gift for someone she was so fond of before, so it was a big deal for her for it to be, like, a  _ good _ gift.

She continued to silently help the boys set up for practice, pushing one of the ball carts from the storage room and onto the court. Asahi was the first to say something.

“Hikari, you’re so quiet today.” He gave her a curious look.

“Oh, am I?” She was snapped out of her aimless train of thought, “Just thinking, I guess.” 

“Hikari? Thinking?” Tsukishima let out a snicker as he came up from behind her, “Don’t hurt yourself.” He teased.

Hikari jokingly scoffed at him as she reached into the cart, “Rude!” She laughed as she threw a volleyball into his back. It wasn’t a terribly hard throw, so the most it did was give him a gentle love tap.

“What’re you thinking so hard about?” Asahi asked, the two of them standing in the middle of the court.

“Well,” She began, swinging her arms from side to side. She didn’t know where to start. 

Hikari had no problem talking about things that didn’t particularly matter to her- like rating other schools’ uniforms or her favorite type of meat buns. But, apparently, when it came to talking about things she actually cared about, it was much harder to find the words, “So, it’s, like, this… guy’s… birthday on Friday and I don’t know what to get him.” She shrugged as she scrunched up her nose. She debated on whether or not she should tell him that it’s Aone. 

It’s not like she’ll get in trouble, or anything, but she sometimes did feel a bit weird liking someone from another team- especially a team that Asahi was not a huge fan of. Hikari thought about the standoff between the two teams in June. The air had been so tense between Aone and Asahi, and she didn’t know if it was just a  _ competitive _ thing, or, like, a  _ thing _ , thing.

“Oh!” Asahi said, “Is this a guy that you… you know, like?” He asked. 

Hikari nodded sheepishly, “Yeah… Like, a lot, I think.”

A few of the other guys on the team had started to hover around the two of them, curious as to who caught Hikari’s eye. 

“Is he in your class?” 

“Well we’re both second years, but he’s not in my class.” Being vague was not something that she normally had in her wheelhouse, it felt weird not spilling every detail about her time with Aone to the guys- but she was just cautious, she didn’t want them to feel like she was somehow  _ betraying _ the team by… by fraternizing with the  _ enemy _ .

Their chatting had apparently become more interesting than doing warm-ups, because now this seemed to be a conversation between Hikari and the entire team.

Asahi nodded, “Well, what does he like?” 

“Oh… Uhm…” Hikari thought for a moment, “He likes the color blue… he likes American shows…” She went back to swinging her arms back and forth, avoiding eye contact, “And he likes volleyball, too, I guess, and turtles.”

“He’s a volleyball player?” 

Immediately, all of the guys looked at the second years on the team with wide eyes, trying to figure out whose birthday was on Friday. Hikari quickly realized her mistake and shook her head frantically, waving her arms.

“No, no, no, no, no,” She exclaimed, “No, it's no one on the team! He goes to another school! I don’t, like,  _ like _ any of you… like that.” She didn’t want to seem like she was being sneaky because she was secretly in love with one of her own players. No offense to any of her beloved second years, but that wasn’t going to happen. She knew them too well to ever see them as more than sweaty, smelly, rambunctious brothers.

The team’s necks snapped back to her looking at her expectantly. Her hand flew over her mouth, realizing that this now meant they knew he played for another team. This was not supposed to be such a big fuss. So much for being sly and subtle.

All she needed to know was what kind of gift to get a guy.

Tanaka stepped forward, trying to look intimidating, “Who is it?” He glowered at her.

She shook her head and spoke through her fingers, “No one, forget it. Please.”

Each guy started to think of all of the second years they had played.

“Oh my god,” Tanaka’s face fell (quite over dramatically), “Is it a city boy?” 

“What?” Hikari replied, “Wait- like the Nekoma guys? No.” 

Tanaka sighed in relief, but she still wasn’t off the hook as the team began rattling off different second years they could think of.

“It could be someone from the training camp, or a practice match.” Suga pointed out.

“Or from the tournament back in June,” Yamaguchi chimed in. 

“Or, maybe,” Hikari interjected, her face burning, “We could just drop it? And start practice like we’re supposed to?” She laughed awkwardly, regretting telling Asahi that the gift was for a guy that she liked.

They ignored her as they continued to try to figure out who the mystery player was.

After a few more moments of  _ poor _ detective work, Tsukishima sighed in annoyance, “Are you guys stupid? It’s gotta be someone from Dateko.” 

Everyone turned to look at him, Hikari included. 

“How do you know?” Asahi asked.

“Have you guys ever seen Hikari sprint?” He asked, arms crossed. The team shook their heads- Hikari was more of a skipper if she needed to be somewhere quick.

“Well I have,” Tsukishima threw a knowing smirk at her, “And it right after the Dateko team left to get on their bus. I’ve never seen her book it out of practice so fast, and so flustered looking, too.” 

Hikari said nothing, but she knew she was mere seconds away from being busted. Her face was beet red by now. With one arm crossed over her stomach, clenching her side, she used her free hand to nervously pick at her chapped lips as the team started to use the horrible power that is deduction.

“They only have two second years, right?” Suga asked the group. 

“So it’s the wing spiker.” Yamaguchi stated, matter-of-factly.

She furrowed her brow slightly, in confusion. She thought back to the tournament in June and the practice match. She still may not have known everything about volleyball, but she knew that Aone was  _ not _ a wing spiker- he was a middle blocker. 

“I-” She began, but was interrupted.

“Futakuchi, right? The other second year is Aone, the big guy with no eyebrows.” Suga replied to Yamaguchi’s assumption. Everyone nodded in agreement. 

“It’s Futakuchi- It can’t be Aone.” 

_ It can’t be Aone _ ? What was  _ that _ supposed to mean?

Now Hikari was getting a little offended by their assumption, “Woah, woah, woah,” She had a flustered look on her face, “Why can’t it be Aone?”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes at her, “I think that if he spent more than five minutes with you he’d explode from annoyance.” 

All thoughts of trying to be on the down low flew out the window, “ _ Well _ I’ll have you know he has spent more than five minutes with me,” She crossed her arms, “And his head stayed very much intact, thank you very much.” She finished her point off by sticking her tongue out at Tsukishima. 

They all stared at her, faces blank and looking quite stupid. 

“What?” She huffed out.    


But soon enough, they all started chuckling.

“Are you serious?” Tsukishima said.

“I-Wha-,” Hikari stuttered out, taken aback by the team’s response, “Yes. I am serious. What’s wrong with me liking Aone?”

“How did that happen?” Suga asked.

She shrugged, flustered, “I don’t know… It just kind of, like, happened. I talked to him and then decided that I liked him. And then we got coffee the other day. And I’m really hoping that he likes me back, so,” She gave whichever chuckling boys were in her reach, which was Suga and Tsukishima, a smack upside their heads, “Can you guys  _ please _ help me think of something to give him for his birthday and stop making fun of me? Please? And shouldn’t you all be practicing?” 

Her cheeks were hot with embarrassment. She had brought it up to Asahi because he was one of the… gentler souls out of the team. The two of them had confided in one another before, so he seemed to be a safe choice. She didn’t want to make it, like, a big deal. 

“So you guys are dating?” Asahi asked.

“What? No, no we’re not dating?” Hikari was confused, hadn’t she just said that she was unsure if he even liked her?

“Well you guys got coffee together, that kind of sounds like a date.” He pointed out. Some of the other guys nodded in agreement.

“It wasn’t a date.” 

“I think it was.”

“It wasn’t.”

“Was.”

“It wasn’t, both of our families were out shopping and we happened to run into each other. And then I happened to ask him to come with me to get coffee. And then we talked. And-” Hikari paused, thinking about the flowers.

And the hand holding. 

And the touching.

But neither of them had said it was a date,  _ so it wasn’t a date _ .

“And what?” Tsukishima questioned, his eyebrows raised. 

“And nothing. I just made him walk with me to get coffee. In order for it to be a date I think you have to, like, let both parties know.”

“So you wanted it to be a date.” Suga said.

Hikari’s hand dragged down her face in frustration, “ _ Of course _ I wanted it to be a date but I don’t know if he wanted it to be a date so it wasn’t a date. Which is why I need help deciding what to get him for his birthday so that he  _ knows _ I want to go on, like, a date.”

“How are we supposed to know what he likes?” Suga mused, “We don’t know him.”

“I know, I know,” Hikari whined, “But, like, what do guys like? Like if it were you, what kind of gift would  _ you _ want from  _ me _ on your birthday?”

They all took a moment to ponder, finally realizing that Hikari was being serious- a drastic change. 

“Those cookies you baked to thank us for having you join as a manager.” Said Asahi.

“Or the mochi you made for us after we lost in the tournament.” Chimed Yamaguchi.

Several of the other guys nodded and voiced their agreement.

“Those cupcakes you made for Hinata’s birthday,” Hummed Noya, “Nearly brought me to tears.”

Hikari just blinked, then whacked her forehead with her palm, “I am such a ditz sometimes! I totally didn’t think of baking anything!” She giggled, “Well, that was easier to figure out than I thought! I was making a big fuss out of nothing, huh? Thank you!” She skipped her way past the guys and made her way over to the bench to Ukai, the embarrassment she felt completely wiped away from her brain as she thought about what to bake for Aone.

“Hey Coach Ukai?” She asked softly.

“Hm?” He looked up at her from the bench, concerned- she never asked him for anything

“Make them do a lap of penguin dives.” She cracked a smile, and he gave her one back, before standing up and blowing the whistle.

She smiled innocently at the boys as they all groaned in unison.

That’s what they get for making fun of her and her iron wall. 

******

After practice was over, Hikari waved goodbye to the boys and excitedly biked home, knowing exactly what she was going to bake for Aone. Luckily for her, she had a light load of homework that night and was able to get to baking at a semi-reasonable hour. 

As she was folding the last of the flour into the batter, her dad sat down at the counter, already in his pajamas.

“Isn’t it a bit late to be baking?” He asked.

Hikari looked up from the bowl, shaking her head, “I don’t think it is- plus I already have all of my homework done for the night so it’ll be fine.” 

“You still have to wake up for school tomorrow, you know.” He closed his eyes as he rested his hand in his palm. 

Hikari just hummed in response. The two of them sat in silence as Hikari added in the poppyseeds to the finished batter.

“And to what do I owe the marvelous pleasure of having my daughter baking a treat tonight? You normally only bake for fun on the weekends, so there must be an occasion.” He peered at her over his glasses.

“Well there  _ is _ an occasion- It’s for a birthday.” She smiled to herself as she continued to mix, peeking over at the vase of flowers that were set in the center of the counter.

“Hmm,” Her dad hummed, amused at his charmed daughter, “Would this perhaps be the birthday of a certain boy? Maybe a white-haired one? Who bought you flowers?” The two smiled at each other.

“Maybe…” Hikari said coyly.

“And are you dating said boy who you are making a birthday treat for?” Her dad raised his eyebrows at her.

“Dad!” She rolled her eyes, “No, we aren’t dating,” Hikari said, “Not yet at least..” She mumbled the last part under her breath.

“Aww,” He cooed, “My wittle girl is growing up. Look at you, all smitten.” 

The two laughed as Hikari threw the dish rag she had placed over her shoulder at him, “Stop! Don’t be so.. So embarrassing.” She tried her best to make an annoyed face at him. 

She paused, stopping her mixing for a moment, then walked around the counter to her dad.

“Are you here to apologize for throwing this at me? I think I nearly died. I think that we’re gonna have to amputate it.” He clutched his arm as he hissed in pain dramatically.

“Nope!” She swiped the rag away from him, “I just needed it back. I’ll be sure to check it for blood before I use it though.”

As Hikari got out her baking tins, he stood up from his chair, “That was cold.” He made his way over to his daughter, giving her a hug goodnight and a kiss on the top of her head. Her dad rested his head on top of hers as she held her baking tins.

“It’s my job to make fun of you. It’s written in the dad contract.”

“Oh really?” She said as she filled the tins with muffin liners.

“Mhm, page 354, subsection C- I have to tease my daughter about the boys that she likes.”

“I thought that dads were supposed to hate the boys?”

“That’s only after you start dating that I’m supposed to keep a loaded shotgun by the door.”

“Oh, of course, silly me.” The two chuckled softly, "But if we start dating, please refrain from shooting him the first time you see him again. That wouldn't be very nice, you know?"

Hikari and her dad had always been incredibly close. It had always been just the two of them, plus whatever outdoor cats wandered through their yard throughout the seasons. It felt nice that the two of them could be comfortable around one another- of course he was a father first, strict when he needed to be, but it was nice to come home to a friend, too. To a movie buddy, a gardening instructor, a very gentle and enthusiastic food critic.

“Don’t stay up too late.” He lifted his head from off of hers.

She hummed in response, “Night.” 

He walked out of the kitchen and headed to bed. 

Hikari looked at the spread in front of her- bowls, tins, and ingredients strewn across the counter. All she had left to do was bake. 

As she was putting the batter into the tins, she hummed quietly to herself.

Her dad was right- she was absolutely smitten. 


	9. The Birthday (Part Two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody!!! I hope you enjoy this chapter!!!!!! I like this one a lot :))) 
> 
> I'm bummed that there's only one left after this I've had a rlly fun time writing this :,(

It was now Friday, and during her lunch period she used her free time to figure out when she could bring Aone his gift.

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**_[ aone!]_ **

**_[ first things first ]_ **

**_[ HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ]_ **

**_[ Aone! :) ]_ **

**_[ Thank you, Hikari. :) ]_ **

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**_[ ok and SECOND thing! ]_ **

**_[ what time does practice end for you today?? ]_ **

**_[ Aone! :) ]_ **

**_[ We have a practice match today. We will probably end a little after 7 p.m. ]_ **

**_[ Why? ]_ **

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**_[ ok great!!! im going to bring you your bday gift after practice ]_ **

**_[ my dad is letting me borrow his car since it is too far to bike lol ]_ **

**_[ Aone! :) ]_ **

**_[ You didn’t need to get me anything. ]_ **

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**_[ too late! gift has been gotten. and you will be getting said gift after your practice match!!!!!!!!!! i will not be taking no for an answer aone sorry not sorry! ]_ **

**_[ Aone! :) ]_ **

**_[ Ok. ]_ **

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**_[ yay!!!!!!! excited to see you :)) ]_ **

**_[ Aone! :) ]_ **

**_[ Me too ]_ **

Hikari twiddled her thumbs above her phone for a moment trying to decide whether or not to push it a little bit.

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**_[ good luck w your practice match! see you at 7 aoneeee!! :* ]_ **

She knew that it was a small act, but she wondered what he would think about it.

*****

Aone did not know what to think about it. He actually thought it was a typo at first. He and Futakuchi were eating lunch at Futakuchi’s desk as Aone texted Hikari.

“You’ve been on your phone a lot more lately.” Futakuchi mused.

Aone nodded.

“Have you been talking to that Karasuno girl?”

Aone nodded again, tapping his fingers on the screen. 

“What’re you guys talking about?” 

He shrugged, “Birthday stuff.”

After a moment of pondering, Aone brought his phone closer to his friend.

“Futakuchi,” He showed him the final text Hikari had sent, “Is this a typo?” 

Futakuchi looked at the text, then back up at his clueless friend.

“Uh, no,” He chuckled, “That’s a kissing face, Aone.”

Aone stared at his phone screen, “Oh.”

“ _ Oh _ ?” Futakuchi raised a brow, “Who knew you were such a charmer?” He puckered his lips and started making kissing noises at his friend before Aone’s hand forcefully pushed his face away.

“Cut it out.” He tried to hide the pink tint on his face.

“Does our wittle Aone have a crush on little miss sunshine? Hm?” His friend continued to press as he cooed and ruffled his friend's hair. It was rare for the middle blocker to be flustered about anything, let alone a girl, so Futakuchi was having fun with it.

Aone didn’t say anything in response to his teasing friend.

“Well?” Futakuchi asked more seriously this time, “Do you? You know, like her?” He took a swig from his water bottle.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah?” He continued to tease Aone, now moving on to pinching his cheeks and cooing, “Look at you, you’re all grown up, talking to girls, learning how to type a kissing face over text.” 

He shoved his friend away from him, embarrassed.

Aone huffed and continued to eat his lunch in silence, eyes still glued to his phone. 

A kissing face, huh?

*****

Practice was nearly over for the Karasuno team, and Hikari was getting giddier by the second. She was excited to see Aone tonight- the muffins she had made turned out wonderful, and she had found another small gift to give the boy.

As practice wrapped up, she hurried along as she helped clean up- hoping to get out of the gym with enough time to go home and change before driving to Dateko. 

She pushed the ball cart back into the storage room, where Suga was putting the net away.

“Any fun plans for the weekend?” He asked.

“Yeah!” She pushed the cart into the corner, “I’m going to visit Aone after I leave here and give him his birthday gift. I’m really excited to see him.”

Suga hummed and smiled at her, “Well that’ll be nice to see your man!” He nudged her side.

Hikari playfully smacked the side of his arm, “He’s not my man…” The two of them walked out of the storage room, “What about you? Anything fun going on?” 

He shrugged, “Eh, nothing much. My brother and I might go see a movie, relax a little.” 

The second everything was squared away, Hikari was the first to leave the gym, overflowing with excitement.

She threw a wave towards the gym, “See you guys Monday! Bye!” And she skipped towards her bike. 

Hikari pedaled home quickly and gathered Aone’s gift together before going up to her room to change. She wanted to make a point of looking nicer than normal- not in her school uniform or sweats. She was glad that tonight was slightly cooler than most august nights, this allowed her the opportunity to put on a nicer outfit than normal. With volleyball season going on, it was rare for her to be able to dress as freely as she would’ve normally liked- feeling like she now practically lived in either her school or manager uniform. 

After freshening herself up a little bit, she looked at her phone and was making perfect time. If she left now she would get to Dateko right around seven o’clock. 

Skipping down the stairs and into the kitchen, she grabbed the basket of muffins she had made, along with the tiny gift box and the keys to her dad’s car. 

As she pulled out of the driveway, she tapped her fingers against the steering wheel and hummed along to the music playing on the radio.

It wasn’t a terribly long drive to the Dateko campus, but with Hikari’s anticipation nearly overflowing and pouring out her ears at this point, it felt like ages. Every few minutes she would look over at the basket of baked goods she had buckled into the passenger seat, wanting to make sure that they weren’t victimed of her sub-par driving skills.

She pulled into the school, weaving her way through the campus searching for the best place to park. Luckily for her, there was a parking lot not far from the gym, and she could easily tell it was the correct gym because through the open doors she could see the boys playing volleyball. 

It was a lovely night out, the air was cooling down as since the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. Hikari turned the car off before grabbing the goods and leaning against the hood of her dad’s car. She took out her phone and sent Aone a text, letting him know that she was here even though she knew he wouldn’t check his phone until after practice.

She knew that she was early, and that a ‘little after 7’ could easily turn into a little after 8- she had become all too familiar with how late the Karasuno boys would go during their own practice matches so Hikari came prepared.

Digging through her purse, she grabbed the book she had brought and began to read to pass the time. Hikari had parked beneath one of the parking lot lights, so even once the sun had completely disappeared she had no problem seeing the words on the pages.

About thirty minutes had passed, and her attention was torn away from her novel as she heard the final whistle followed by both teams thanking the other for the game. 

Sitting up a little straighter, she clutched the handle of the basket and brought it closer to her side, her foot tapping against the pavement. Her eyes were glued to the gym door as she restlessly waited to see a tuft of white hair, more specifically see it walk out of the door. She had seen him in glimpses while the two teams played, looking up from her book every once in a while, and he had passed by the door a couple times as he helped clean everything up. So now, she just had to wait.

After wrapping everything up at practice, Aone waited patiently for Futakuchi to change his shoes- the two of them always left practice together. As his friend laced up his sneakers, Aone took his phone out of his backpack and checked to see if he had any messages, his face lit up when he saw Hikari’s name across his screen. ****

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**_[ hey! i know youre still in practice but i just wanted to let you know im here!! :)) ]_ ** ****

Futakuchi grabbed his volleyball bag and stood up, “Hey are you ready to g-” 

Aone had already spun around on his heels, walking towards the gym door.

“Ok,” His friend went into a half jog to catch up to him, “I guess you’re ready to go, then.” 

The two of them exited the gym, followed by a few other teammates, and Aone didn’t have to search long for Hikari- she was parked right by the gym. When he saw her, he felt like the wind was knocked out of him, and not from the gruelling practice match he and his team had just endured. 

Of course he had always thought that Hikari was beautiful, even though he had only seen her in her manager’s uniform or casual shorts and t-shirt. But as she tucked her hair behind her ear, looking up to meet Aone’s eyes, he felt like he was seeing her for the first time all over again. She was perched against the hood of the car, and the light coming from the lamp above made it seem like Hikari had just been delivered from Aone’s own personal heaven. He had never noticed how… how lovely she actually looked. Her cardigan had begun to fall off of one of her shoulders, which were dusted with freckles. The rings she had adorned on her hands had accentuated the slenderness of her fingers, and while resting flat in her lap, the slight crookedness of her ring finger on her left hand. Looking at her in this new light felt like a luxury- like when your parents take you shopping and after begging, and begging to go into your favorite candy store they hand you the change from their pocket and say, ‘okay, you can get one thing.’

Hikari pushed herself off from the hood of her dad’s car and grabbed the basket and Aone’s gift, skipping towards him and his friend with a cheesy, lopsided grin plastered across her face. The basket carelessly flew back and forth at her side, the corners of the gingham cloth flapping in her wind.

Aone broke away from Futakuchi to meet her in the middle, a blush already creeping across his cheeks.

This was the first time that they were seeing each other on purpose. Before had always been coincidences, lucky encounters. But Hikari sought him out. Hikari had asked to see him. 

Hikari wanted to see him.

It was still a slightly odd and foreign thought to Aone, that she could feel the same way about him that he feels about her. That she would go out of her way to ask him about his day, to send him pictures of things that made her smile, to get him a birthday gift.

“Happy birthday!”She yelled as she threw her free arm around him, bringing him down into a hug, excitedly bouncing in place before quickly pulling away, “These are for you!” 

Hikari handed him the basket of muffins, “They’re lemon poppyseed!”

He took the basket from her hand, “Thank you… Did you make these?” He asked with a smile.

She nodded animatedly, “I did! And they’re really good, too! I mean, I just had to taste test one before I gave them to you! I didn’t want to give you crappy muffins! And-Oh!” 

Aone just stood there, looking at the flustered girl as she reached in her cardigan pockets, digging for something. He didn’t want to turn around, but he could feel the entire team behind him, eyes boring into his back. 

Thanks to Futakuchi, the entire team was well aware of what show they were spectating right now.

Futakuchi had bursted into the gym at the beginning of practice and had immediately continued his teasing session from lunch- asking Aone all about Karasuno’s manager and her plans to see Aone later that night. The rest of the team gawked at the snow-haired boy. They all knew of the manager- she had been the hottest topic of conversation after the two teams had a run in at the tournament in June.

*****

_ [ Back in June ] _

_ “We’ll see you guys on the court! Remember to have fun!” The girl beamed as she did her best to usher her own team away from Dateko, not wanting her ace to get too worked up before the match even began. The second that she had stepped in front of and around the ace, Aone’s arm faltered, retreating and relaxing slightly.  _

_ Their new manager was so… so cute. She was so cute.  _

_ As Karasuno walked away, Dateko’s roster was left with mouths agape. _

_ “They have two girl managers now?” Moniwa whined as his gaze followed the sea of black tracksuits. _

_ Aone continued to keep his eyes on the girl, his face slack and his cheeks pink. As she turned back and cast a glance to Dateko, his stomach churned.  _

_ The rest of his team had slowly begun to walk away, and he was only snapped out of his trance as Futakuchi called his name.  _

_ As they all continued to walk down the hall, the guys spoke amongst themselves. _

_ “I can’t believe they have two pretty managers now. It’s not fair.”  _

_ “Out of all of the girl managers from the other teams, I think that new one is the cutest by far. Did you see that smile?And those adorable little freckles?”  _

_ Aone just listened as the boys continued to gawk as they walked to go do their warm ups. _

_ After losing against Karasuno, Aone obviously felt defeated. He felt that way after every match they lost. But all he could do was keep looking forward and focus on working harder to beat the tiny orange-haired boy. _

_ Everyone was standing around, waiting for their coach and making idle chat when he just happened to look out of the corner of his eye. He just barely caught Karasuno’s manager rounding a corner down the hall, and after a few moments his feet were apparently taking him in that same direction, straying from his team.  _

_ He stopped about halfway down the hall. He had no idea what he was doing- it wasn’t like he was going to say anything to her, and she wasn’t going to say anything to him. But once again, his legs took over from his brain and he rounded the same corner she had, only to have someone run into his chest with a soft thud.  _

_ Aone looked down, an intense look already on his face. She was already profusely apologizing before she even looked up to see who she had run into. But once Karasuno’s manager met his gaze, she stopped.  _

_ He already had a feeling what was coming, what always happened- an awkward shuffle away and another meek apology. He couldn’t help that he towered over everyone and that his face… looked like his face. He was used to making people nervous and uncomfortable- not that he liked it.  _

_ But instead of shying away, the girl surprised him and began to pat his arm profusely and shower him with compliments about his playing during the match. He just stared at her, he didn’t know what to say back. Flattery from the manager of the opposing team was so… unexpected. _

_ Especially from a girl like her, he had thought. A girl so bright cheering on someone so dull.  _

_ But he tore his gaze off of her as he heard his friend call for him. Now Aone felt like the awkward one shuffling away as he walked back towards his teammate.  _

_ The two didn’t make it very far down the hallway when Aone heard her shout a giddy goodbye. All he could do was just nod at her.  _

_ He didn’t even know her name, but as the pink creeped on to his cheeks once more, he hoped that they would meet again.  _

_ And that he would be able say something back. _

*****

Aone had liked her the moment that she flashed that lovely little grin as she tried to break the tension between the two teams. And now here she was, standing before him, fumbling and rummaging through her pockets for something. 

He tried to not think of the way his team was watching the two of them like hawks, curious to see how the girl acted with the silent, intimidating wall.

Hikari pulled a little box out of her pocket and handed it to him, “This is for you, too.” She looked between him and the box, expectantly.

Aone set the basket down gently beside him as he unwrapped the gift. Inside the small box, he pulled out a resin turtle keychain.

“And..” Hikari grabbed the side of her purse and swung it around towards him, pointing towards her own keychain, “It came in a set of two! So now we have like, matching ones! I thought that they were just, like, so cute!”

She had the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth as she beamed at him, anxious for his reaction to the gifts. She wasn’t sure if this was his kind of thing. Keychains were kind of dorky. And was making the muffins too over the top? Did he even li-

Suddenly, Hikari felt Aone’s arms wrapped around her waist as he pulled her into a tight hug. She immediately threw her own arms around him and giggled into his neck. But she soon squealed with happiness as she felt herself being lifted off of the ground, her legs slightly swinging in the air. 

She smiled, he could feel the curve of her lips move as they stretched across her face, “Do you like it?” She mumbled, her face still in his neck.

“Yes, I love it. Thank you.” Aone said softly as he squeezed her tighter, before setting her back down on the ground.

As the two let go of one another, Hikari swiftly planted a mere ghost of a kiss on Aone’s cheek as she pulled away. Her lips were so light and faint against his skin that she wasn’t even sure if he had felt it. 

He wasn’t even sure if he had felt it- Aone was sure that as he could feel the residue of her chapstick on his cheek that it was maybe just an accident, a side effect of untangling themselves from the tight embrace.

As her feet hit the ground, the two looked at each other. Both of them wanted to kiss the other,  _ if _ the entire Dateko team hadn’t been a few meters away, maybe one of them would have gotten the courage to do so.

Instead of completely letting go of him, Hikari’s hand dragged down his arm before lacing her fingers in his and swinging their hands back and forth absent-mindedly as she spoke.

He could feel the cool metal wire of her rings in between his fingers. 

Aone wondered how she did it- how she could just be so comfortable and casual when it came to him. Like she didn’t care, or at least didn’t mind, that people were watching. Just happy to be in his company.

“I can also drive you home tonight,” She looked up at him with big, gleaming eyes, “If you want me to..? I mean, I’m sure you already have a ride home or maybe you, like, ride a bike to school.. Or something. You probably already have a ride home but I just… Uhm… Thought I would, you know, offer.” Hikari smiled sheepishly. 

Aone nodded firmly, before turning around and waving his nosey teammates goodbye. Normally he and Futakuchi would walk together until they had to go their separate ways, but he didn’t think his friend would mind. 

A few of them gave him enthusiastic thumbs ups and smiles, causing him to get hot with embarrassment, before he turned back around to face Hikari.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Aone asked.

She shook her head fervently, “Not at all.” 

And with that, Hikari led him to her car, still hand in hand. Aone placed the basket of muffins on his lap after he buckled his seat belt. 

The radio played quietly as he guided her back out of the school parking lot and towards his house. The two of them made idle chat during the drive- Aone thanking her again for the gifts, Hikari asking him about volleyball- things like that. 

As Hikari was telling a story about some ‘super crazy thing’ that happened at lunch yesterday, Aone was trying to find the right time to reach for her hand.

She had always been the one to initiate it, she always found her way to his hand so smoothly, so naturally. He didn’t know how she did it, so nonchalantly- like her hand simply just belonged there. 

Aone started by resting his elbow on the center console. Hikari only had one hand on the wheel, the other resting on her leg, her fingers tapping the beat of the song on the radio on her thigh. As she continued to drive down the street, he slowly, and he was sure not so subtly, inched his hand closer to the other side of the car. 

While she was telling her story, Hikari knew very well what was happening even with her eyes on the road. She could feel in the air how tense he was in the seat beside her. It was a little funny to her how nervous he was about it, although quite endearing. She thought that through her actions that she had made it obvious that she had no problem with it- holding his hand not even five minutes before.

Hikari would’ve just ended his anxious suffering and fidgeting the second he rested his elbow on the console, but she wanted to see if he would even be able to do this before they arrived at his house, just for fun- based on the snail speed he was going at, she wasn’t sure he would make it in time. 

“Um,” Aone pointed towards an upcoming street, using the hand that he had been inching towards Hikari’s, “You’re going to turn left here.”

As he brought his hand back down, he placed it on top of hers and looked out the car window as he gently slipped his hand under hers.

There were a few moments of silence between them, Aone taking shy glances that alternated between her face and their hands.

“That wasn’t so hard,” Hikari took her eyes off the road for a moment to look at Aone, who was pink in the face, “Was it?” 

When she turned back towards the street there was a hint of a smile in her profile.

“No.” Aone could only manage a whisper as he continued to stare out the window, a little embarrassed. 

“I’m sorry,” She rested her head against the seat and took another glance at him as she squeezed his hand, tight, “I’m just teasing.” 

For the rest of the drive the two sat in silence, both of them just thinking about how warm it felt- their palms pressed together. 

“It’s the blue one, on the right.” He used his free hand to tap on the passenger window and point to his house. 

Hikari nodded and pulled up to the house, parking the car on the side of the road. 

With only the hum of the radio and low rumble of the engine filling the silence between them, neither of them knew what to do. Neither had let go of the other yet. 

Hikari moved their hands gently on to the console of the car as she leaned closer to Aone. He shifted slightly in his seat. The way that Hikari was able to look at him like he was the only person in the world put an intense pit in his stomach- A good pit, but her confidence and intensity was nonetheless intimidating right now.

As he looked back at her, he noticed the effect of the summer sun on her face. When they had first met in June, there was just a sprinkling of freckles around the bridge of her nose. But now, even with the only light coming from porches and dim street lamps, he could see how much more prominent they were. Even with the roof of the car above them, Aone felt like he could see all of the stars just on her face. Most of them were soft, small specs. They had spread further out than her nose, sweeping across her cheeks and some below her eyebrows and even right above her cupid's bow. But some were a deeper brown and resembled more of a beauty mark than a freckle. He liked her freckles. 

When Hikari began to talk, Aone was snapped out of the trance that her speckling had put him in.

“Uhm… So-” She began, speaking incredibly softly. She shifted her body in the driver’s seat to face more towards Aone.

Hikari took her bottom lip between her teeth for just a moment before releasing it, and let her eyes flicker between Aone’s eyes and his lips. She was going to do it. 

“Good night Hikari, thank you for the gift.” The words rushed out of Aone’s mouth, his nerves suddenly going into overdrive. He used his free hand to open the passenger door and began to try to wiggle his hand free from Hikari’s grip.

As the words came out, Hikari was a little perplexed. He was acting like the car was about to explode if he stayed in it any longer.

_ Did she just misread that a little bit _ ? She thought to herself, she had totally thought the two of them were having… a moment. Or almost a moment. Or something.

Not satisfied with his odd and hasty goodbye, and honestly a little offended at Aone’s reaction to her being so close, she held on to his hand tighter and before he had the chance to even put a foot out of the door and on to the curb, she yanked him towards her, nearly nose to nose. 

“Do you want to go on a date?” She asked, breathlessly, staring into his eyes.

He thought that he looked intimidating, especially when it came to making eye contact with opponents before a match. He didn’t realize how petrifying it was to be on the receiving end of such an intense look.

“Hm?” Aone stared at her with wide eyes. He was close enough to kiss her. 

“Like, with me. Do you want to go on a date… with me.” She had a stern, serious look on her face now, “If you don’t, just like… let me know now. Because I like you, like, a lot. And-”

Aone interrupted her before she could get anymore ramblings out.

“Yes. Please.” His eyes flickered down to her lips for a fraction of a second, “I want to go on a date with you. Yes.” 

“Cool.” She let go of his hand and pulled him into an awkward hug since she was still buckled in her seatbelt. This time she planted a much firmer, more obvious kiss on his cheek, and as she pulled away she let her hand linger on his cheek for a moment. 

“Cool.” He whispered back. 

The two smiled as they both sat there for a moment more, just hoping to get that last ounce of courage needed to go in for it. 

Aone cleared his throat, “Actually, uhm…” He trailed off and Hikari jerked herself away slightly, worried that he had already changed his mind, “Could I take you out on a date?” 

Hikari cocked her head to the side slightly, playing the last ten seconds over again in her head to see if she was remembering differently, “Isn’t that- Isn’t that what I, like, just asked you?” She chuckled.

He cringed inwardly, knowing how weird this was sounding, “Well, yes, but, uhm,” He was trying to find the words to explain himself. He wasn’t very good at this.

He took a deep breath, “When you took me to the coffee shop and paid for my drink, you said I could pay next time. So I thought that, uhm, if  _ I _ asked  _ you _ out on a date then… That would be next time..” 

It took a moment for what he said to register in Hikari’s brain, but once it did she absolutely lost it. She melted into a fit of giggles and tapped her feet rapidly against the floor of her car, “Oh my gosh, you are absolutely adorable,” She beamed at him, squeezing his arm, “Yes, Takanobu, I would  _ love _ to go on a date with you.” 

He let out a sigh of relief- obviously she wasn’t going to reject him since she had quite literally just asked him out, but he didn’t know if she would understand where he was coming from.

“Cool.” He beamed right back at her.

“Cool.” 

Aone grabbed the basket of muffins with a now much clammier hand and he walked towards his house, turning back to get one last look at her through the car window before she drove away. 

Hikari waved an enthusiastic goodbye as she put the car in drive, and pulled away from the curb. 

Once he was inside, he placed the muffins on the kitchen table and picked one out of the basket. 

“Takanobu!” His mother called from behind him, squeezing his arm, “How was practice?”

“Good.” 

She glanced down at the basket of muffins, “Well who are these from!” She picked one up and inspected it before taking a bite.

“They were a birthday gift from Hikari. She baked them for me.” Aone took a bite of his own muffin. 

His mother gasped, “That lovely girl from when we went into town?” She questioned.

He nodded as he continued to devour the muffin.

“Well isn’t she just an absolute sweetheart,” She gave him a knowing look, “Very pretty too..” She trailed off as she made her way back out of the kitchen. 

Aone hummed, looking at the basket of muffins.

Hikari was an absolute sweetheart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also!! I have some fun ideas for some new fics and I was just wondering what pair people would like to see!! With the idea I have in mind i think it could be a cute kyohaba, tsukiyama, or teruyama fic so lmk what sounds good!! or if you'd like to see a different pair!!!!!!!!!!! I also have a cute idea for a bokuaka one that I'm excited to try out!!!
> 
> anyways lmk in the comments what y'all think!!!!


	10. The First Date

Aone wished that he didn’t have morning practice.

Moreso, he wished that Futakuchi hadn’t told the entire team his business and had to deal with it at morning practice.

It had been fine for the most part but as the team began doing some cool down stretches, instead of being spread out across the gym like they normally did, all of the guys seemed to be concentrated around Aone and Futakuchi. 

This past week, after everyone had seen him and Hikari out in front of the gym, had made it a game amongst themselves to see who could get Aone to spill the details about the girl first. But always so tightlipped, no one had succeeded yet. He didn’t even know what they wanted out of him- its not like the details of a date were anything particularly interesting to guys. 

As he stretched his fingers towards his foot, he felt the hard slap of a palm against his back, pushing him even further towards the ground. He let out an ‘umph’ as he felt how tight his muscles had gotten from practicing. 

“So Aone,” Koganegawa began, “You excited for your date today?” 

The first year plopped down beside him, completely forgetting about the stretches he was supposed to be doing. Instead, Koganegawa sat cross legged, his laced fingers supporting his chin as he stared at Aone. 

Not a thought behind those eyes, Aone thought to himself. But even though he never admitted to it, he had enjoyed the first year’s company- a great teammate on the court and dare Aone even say, a great friend off the court. 

But he just ignored the blonde boy as he continued his stretches.

“Aone~” He sang out as he tried to capture his attention. Koganegawa had now flopped over on to his stomach and kicked his feet around in the air. 

Sitting up from his stretch, Aone just gave him a blank stare.

“Come on, give us something,” Sakunami whined, now taking a seat beside the other first year.

In the nicest way possible, it was like being on a team with kindergarteners. The three that were on the team had seemed to make it their mission this year to get Aone to crack, constantly pestering him and goofing off at his expense. 

But for the most part, Aone didn’t mind. Because it meant that they weren’t nervous around him, that the first years were comfortable around him. 

While only being a year older, it was like he had taken on the position of being the big brother. A silent one, but a big brother nonetheless. 

Now the rest of the team had ceased their stretches and joined in with egging Aone on. 

“Tell us about her,” Futakuchi said beside him.

“No.” 

“She seemed to like you a lot when she came to practice last week.” 

Aone had given up on finishing out his stretches, his legs relaxing in front of him as his palms kept him propped up on the gymnasium floor. 

“She’s really pretty too. Prettier than when we saw her at the interhigh.” Yasushi wiggled his brows at the middle blocker. Now they were really just trying to get him to squirm. 

“If I tell you guys will you drop it?” Aone finally huffed out, but only after he sent a pointed look towards his captain.

“Please!” Koganegawa swiftly spun himself around and sat back on his bottom, listening intently with wide eyes.

In fact, everyone on the team watch staring at him expectantly, waiting to see just how many syllables were going to leave his mouth.

“Hikari is very nice, and chatty. I like to listen to her talk. She really enjoys baking and reading books. And yes, I also think she is very pretty.” 

He thought he was going to be done at that. But before he knew it, Aone was the one who began to ramble.

“I remember wanting to talk to her so badly when we saw her at the tournament, but I didn’t. Then we met again when the both of us took the train into Tokyo. You would think that she would run out of things to say, but she doesn’t. And she doesn’t mind that I’m quiet. Or that I’m scary looking, or something.

Everyone just looked at him with their mouths agape as he continued, this might’ve been more coming out of Aone than any interaction he had had with all of his teammates combined since joining the team. 

"But I like her a lot. I do. I thought I would be more nervous for today but I’m only a little bit- I’m mostly just excited. The weather is nice to go outside today.” 

“Who asked who out?” Sukunami asked.

“Yes.” Aone replied.

And with that, Aone got up, knowing that he had to leave the gym soon if he wanted enough time to get ready. The rest of the team followed suit, more than happy with the result of a week’s worth of prodding got them. 

“Well if things don’t go well tonight,” Yasushi said in a joking tone, “Feel free to give her my email.” 

Without a second thought, Aone yanked his shoe off of his left foot and flung it at Yasushi, not caring if he was the vice captain or not. It hit him square in the back of the head, and his teammates fell in stitches of laughter behind him. 

“Oi!” Yasushi picked up the shoe and went to chuck it right back, but as Aone passed him he simply just plucked it out of the setter’s hands and continued to walk towards the door.

\----

Aone fidgeted with his shirt as he stared in the mirror. He had gone for a blue, short sleeve button up with black jeans. 

_ Tucked?  _

He shoved the shirt into the waist of his pants. It had all bunched around the sides and was leaving him with an oddly shaped silhouette. 

Aone had never been one to care much for style- he basically lived in a rotation of a school uniform, a volleyball uniform, and sweats. 

But this was his first date. Ever. His first date with  _ Hikari _ , no less.   


_ Untucked? _

He gracelessly yanked the shirt out of his pants and let out a frustrated sigh. He began to unbutton his top, exposing the white undershirt he had underneath. 

Studying himself in the mirror, he swung his arms from side to side as he looked at his outfit from all possible angles- he really wanted to make the effort to look extra nice today. 

A soft ding from his phone across his room took him out of what was soon going to be a self-conscious spiral. Aone flopped down onto his bed and unplugged his phone from the charger. He kicked his legs up and down mindlessly, reading Hikari’s text.

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**_[ excited to see you today!!! lmk when youre on your way :)) ]_ **

**_[ Aone! :) ]_ **

**_[ Excited to see you too! ]_ **

**_[ And okay. I will probably leave in about 15. ]_ **

**_[ Hikari! :D ]_ **

**_[ kk!! sounds good!! ]_ **

**_[ also are you gonna lmk what we’re doing orrrrrrrrr ]_ **

**_ Aone smiled at his phone.  _ **

**_[ Aone! :) ]_ **

**_[ No I told you it is a surprise. ]_ **

\----

As he pulled up to the curb in front of Hikari’s house, it all made sense. 

The houses were all pretty much shoulder to shoulder and much smaller than the homes in his own neighborhood. But sandwiched between two beige, squared homes was one that was painted a light blue, sticking out like a sore thumb.

Everything about it, really, stuck out like a sore thumb.

In contrast to the tall, solid fences throughout the neighborhood, the little blue house had a shorter, slatted fence, letting those who pass by run their fingers along the gaps and feel the flowers growing up against it. 

The stone pathway leading up to the house was lined with well manicured bushes, and those bushes had patches of flowers blooming besides them. 

He took a deep breath as he pulled the keys out of the ignition. The keys nearly slipped from his fingers due to how clammy his hands had become- there was no denying how nervous Aone was. He always felt so flustered when it came to Hikari.

But with one more slow inhale, he pushed himself out of the car. He was a gentleman, of course, he knew that it was proper etiquette to go to the front door instead of honking, or sending a text. But being a proper gentleman seemed all too daunting as he fully took in the spectacle that was Hikari’s house.

Standing at the front of the small, white gate, he could now see more clearly the little world Hikari and her father had created for themselves. 

Each window in the front of the house had plants either close up against the window panes. 

Tucked beneath one of the first floor windows was a bird bath, with a bird feeder propped next to it.

The second floor window in particular, was a fantastical sight to Aone. The open window allowed for the long vines of one of the plants perched on the one side of the window sill to spill along the front wall of the house. On the other side of the window sill, were several jellies stuck to the glass- flowers and hearts, mostly. And resting beneath the decorations was a calico cat.

After gawking for a moment more, Aone pushed open the front gate and made his way along the stoned path. 

While many yards on their street had landscaping work, none of them matched the overflow of not only greenery, but a feeling of love and welcoming that Hikari’s home had. As he reached the step up to the front door, Aone noticed several garden gnomes,and a few stone mushrooms and frogs hidden amongst the bushes and flowers.

As he rapped on the front door he shifted his weight in the soles of his feet back and forth.

It honestly must’ve been something about Hikari’s yard, or the way that the sun was warming his back in just the right way, or how he could still see the cat napping in the top window, but his nerves had subsided. It was only a few moments more until he heard a faint yell from behind the closed door, 

_ “I’m coming! One second!”  _ Was accompanied by the soft thudding of feet along the floor.

The door flung open and Aone was greeted with Hikari’s award winning smile, accompanied with crinkled eyes. 

“Hi!”

\---- 

Aone wasn’t supposed to get to her house until a little bit past three, but that didn’t stop Hikari from rising with the sun due to her restless excitement and anticipation. He had planned the entire date, and hadn’t given her a single crumb of a clue as to what it was going to be other than that they were going to be outside (he only told her because she had relentlessly fussed over text that she at least needed to know how to dress accordingly. But even then it still took a whole three days of pleading before he caved and simply sent:  _ “Outside. Supposed to be sunny skies on Saturday.” _ )

Hikari dawdled for most of the morning, taking her time getting ready. 

She spent nearly an hour lounging in her robe after shower, sipping on her coffee as she watched Kiki, one of her cats, soak up the morning sun against her bedroom window. Mimicking her calico critter, after getting dressed, Hikari stretched herself across her bedroom floor, just beneath the window so the sun would warm her, the contrast between the heat of the sun and the chill of her room made the hair on the back of her neck stand up, goosebumps prickling her skin.

Rolling on to her stomach, Hikari reached for her phone. She audibly groaned at the time- still at least another hour of waiting. 

Burrowing her face in the crease of her arm, she sighed. Normally her excitement would manifest itself in being hyperactive- she expected her morning to be  _ ‘go, go, go,’ _ but combined with the nerves of the first date, time seemed to be going at a snail’s pace, and all she could do was wait, still sprawled across her floor. 

There was only so much dawdling a girl could do. She watered the plants along her windowsill- a daily shock always going through her when she realized the greenery her father had given her were still alive and mostly well.

But soon enough, after plenty of songs had hummed their way out of her phone speaker, a few texts between her and Aone, and mindlessly petting Kiki’s back as she bathed in the sun, she saw a car pull up against the curb in front of her house.

She rocketed up from sitting on her floor, the excitement of reality setting in. Hikari swiftly picked her tote from off of her bed and skipped down the stairs.

At the bottom of the steps, she took another good, long look at herself.

Hikari was never one to boast  _ too _ much about her looks, but she knew that she looked particularly pretty today. Lost in her own eyes, she was snapped out of her trance by a knock at the door.

“I’m coming! One second!” She shouted down the hallway as her feet padded across the floor quickly. 

She swung the door open as wide as her smile, “Hi!”

“Hello.” Aone’s posture was so rigid that someone passing by would think he accidentally swallowed a pole. 

“I have to put my shoes on and say goodbye to my dad really quick,” She spun around on her heels, leaving the door open, “Come in, please!” 

Hikari turned back around to motion Aone to come inside, and as he passed the threshold she was fully able to take him in.

Looking at him like this, in his casual summer clothes, was such a treat. Especially since this was the first time she had seen him without a jacket or a sweatshirt to hide himself in. 

She thought his outfit looked really nice, she truly did. But the short sleeve button up had allowed for her to get a proper look at his arms. Hikari knew that he was… muscular. She had seen him in his volleyball shorts, felt his arms wrapped around her in a hug. But seeing the definition nearly made her want to scold herself for being shallow.

Looks were not everything to a person, but she would be lying if she said that it didn’t take a few extra moments to tear her eyes away from him.

Aone just looked, so….

He just looked so nice.

_ No _ , she thought to herself, he didn’t  _ just _ look nice.

Aone looked  _ good _ .

He had caught her midstare, which for a second made him think that something was wrong- like he had a stain on his shirt, or his fly was down. But the spaciness in her gaze and the way that he could practically see steam coming from her cheeks they were so red quickly made him think otherwise, that there actually might’ve been something  _ right _ about how he looked right now. 

He stopped after a few steps as Hikari skipped down the hall and pushed open a glass door.

_ Her father must be out in the garden _ , Aone thought, _ It was a beautiful day to garden. _

As he stood in the middle of Hikari’s home, it felt like he had entered Pixie Hollow’s flea market. Not that that was by any means a negative observation.

He only had a clear view of the living room and the kitchen, but Hikari and her father put the majority of homes in the prefecture to shame when it came to decorating. 

Most homes, including his own, were incredibly minimalistic. Just enough personal touches to make their home their own, and maybe a plant or two in the main living area. Even his own bedroom was fairly simple. 

But there were things… everywhere, in Hikari’s home. Paintings and prints of all varieties filled the walls. On every flat surface there was at least one plant, a small stack of books, and at least one knick-knack. The loveseat in the main room was velvet and a deep blue with a chunky, bright, multicolored blanket folded and thrown over one arm. On the armchair, which was still velvet, but instead a burnt orange, had a black cat curled up in the center of it. 

Plants dangled in woven baskets from the ceiling along with what seemed to be fake ivy and some miniature lantern lights. 

The kitchen was just as intense to look at. A mix of green, orange, and pink covered the cabinets, and Aone didn’t think it would be possible, but even more plants were adorned in the corners and nooks and crannies of the kitchen. 

His brain couldn’t even comprehend the amount of stuff that he saw, but the longer he looked he realized that it wasn’t a messy amount of stuff- the house was clean and organized, it was just incredibly loud on the eyes. 

Hikari was still in the backyard, so Aone took that time to slowly wander the main room, looking at all of the prints and paintings that were on the walls. 

It ranged from classic japanese style of paintings, to painted portraits of people Aone didn’t recognize (he guessed that they were maybe renaissance, based on the frills), to vintage american prints, to family photos, and everything that could possibly be in between there. Closer to one corner of the wall there was even a print of a singing quartet of raisins (He probably had the most questions about that more than anything else he saw in the house). But Aone spent the most time looking at the family photos scattered throughout. 

One picture in particular he had been stuck on. It was of Hikari and her father eating ramen. The two of them were seated at the table in the main room, and Hikari couldn’t have been older than nine or ten. Her father was mid-laugh, noodles slipping off of his chopsticks as his bowl was hoisted in the air above the table. The contents of Hikari’s bowl were caught in action, broth beginning to fly out of the bowl as she pulled it off of the table. But she was still smiling.

In the middle of the two was the calico cat he saw in the window earlier. It was lunging towards Hikari and her bowl.

“I like that one a lot,” Aone nearly jumped out of his skin as Hikari spoke- he didn’t even hear her walk up beside him.

“What’s it from,” He asked, eyes flitting between the photo and the girl beside him.

“It was just a random dinner, Mei was visiting from the city- I don’t remember why, though. I think it might’ve been just because. But, anyways, she was going to just take a picture of my dad and I since she thought that we didn’t have enough family photos, and then right before she took the picture Kiki jumped up and tried to sneak a bite of my noodles.” Hikari chuckled quietly at the memory. That had been such a lovely night. 

“Is that your cat?” Aone pointed to the calico in the picture.

“Yeah,” Hikari nodded, “We have her and then the black one,” She pointed to the armchair, “his name is Jiji.”

She laced her fingers in his and rested against his arm. 

Being in each other’s company always felt so nice, whether it be in silence or in babbles, the two of them just liked to be near one another. 

After a moment, Aone leaned over and put his head against Hikari’s, his cheek in her hair. 

“Ready to go?” 

He felt her hair move as she nodded her head, slowly pulling away from him. 

Hands still intertwined, the two of them walked through her front yard and past the gate. Aone stopped her before she had the chance to open the passenger door.

“Wait, one second,” He jogged around to the other side, opening the door to the backseat. 

A picnic basket swung at his side, a thin, quilted blanket tucked under the handle. A delicate bouquet of wildflowers was grasped in the other. 

Aone did another half-jog back to Hikari, who was standing coyly on the sidewalk. 

“For you,” He said, handing the flowers over gently to her, then using his now free hand to ungracefully smack his palm against Hikari’s before slipping his fingers between hers. 

“A picnic?” She asked as Aone began to lead the two of them down the sidewalk, her eyes still trained lovingly at the flowers in her hand. 

He hummed in response, “Yeah, I, uh, I saw that there was a park nearby.” 

She simply just nodded with a small grin on her face as they continued walking. 

For the most part, the walk was actually fairly silent. 

Not because it was an awkward first date, or the had nothing to talk about, but because the two simply just enjoyed the company of one another, and feeling each other’s palm clasped against their own was enough. 

Every so often, Hikari would point something out- whether it be ‘one of the absolutely cutest houses in the neighborhood’, or the yard that had an overflow of lavender, even pointing out the outdoor cats and whose house they went home to on chilly nights. 

After about twenty minutes of winding through neighborhood roads, the park was in sight but Hikari tugged on Aone’s arm, pulling him to a halt in front of a random house, “Wait,” was all she said. 

Letting go, she walked to the fence of the house, examining a stand that was crudely hammered and nailed to it. It looked like a bird house, but the plastic window pane showed books inside.

“It says free books,” she pointed to the writing inscribed on the top before carefully opening it up. 

"I love it when houses have these, I think that it is just so.. so very kind, you know?" She marveled at the titles in the small box.

Her fingers gently grazed the spines of several books, before plucking one from the small shelf. Spinning back around to Aone, she presented the book to him in the palms of her hands.

“Have you read this one before?” 

He shook his head.

She tucked it in her tote bag before taking Aone’s hand once again, starting up their trek once again, “My dad used to read it to me all the time when I was little. It’s my favorite, I think. But one day I wanted to take a bath with it. Shocking that that didn’t end well.”

Aone chuckled, “What’s it about?” 

“A porcelain rabbit named Edward. It’s a really nice book, kind of sad. I think it was the first time I ever cried because of something that, like, wasn’t injury related.”

He nodded as they reached the park entrance.

The two wandered along the park path until they found a nice spot near a pond and against a tree. The sun wasn’t quite yet on its way to setting, but the angle it held in the sky made the light reflect off of the pond. There were several groups of ducks wading in the water or resting on the edge of the pond.

Aone untucked the quilt from his arm and unfurled it in the air as he set it on the ground. Then, he began to empty the basket contents. 

With her legs criss-crossed, Hikari accepted the small bento that Aone had set in front of her, along with a bottle of water. 

“My mom helped me make them,” He said as he settled in next to the girl, “It’s nothing special, I’m not much of a cook.” 

Box opened on her lap, filled with onigiri and some edamame, Hikari leaned over and planted a kiss on Aone’s cheek, “It looks wonderful, thank you!” 

His cheeks rosied slightly at her kiss, before he too began to dig into his bento. 

In between savoring bites, conversation finally began to flow between the two- talking about what seemed to be anything and everything. Family, friends, hobbies, the past, the future.

“I like living in Miyagi. I’ve always felt so… comfortable here. I think that I’m going to look at universities outside of here, but in my heart I know I’ll come back in the end.. I honestly don’t even know if I’ll go. I might just get straight to work somewhere. Maybe a bakery, you know?” Hikari said as she tossed an edamame shell into her box, “I’m also just, like, really close with my dad. It would be really hard to move away and start a life somewhere where he isn’t close by. Not that I’m, like, incapable of being independent- it’s just always been me and him, you know?”

Aone nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I don’t see myself moving very far from home. I like it here, too. I don’t think that I’m going to university, I guess I haven't thought about it a lot. I just don’t see it in my future, not in the cards. But I know that I want to keep playing volleyball… Probably just not professionally. I don’t really know.” He sighed, leaning back propping himself up with his elbows, legs stretched out. 

“Thinking about the future is hard,” Hikari laughed quietly, shaking her head.

“Yeah.” He hummed. 

After what felt like hours of talking, two fell into another comfortable silence. They people watched- well, Hikari people watched, and Aone watched Hikari people watch. 

Every so often, she would point out a specific person, or a group, and come up with a backstory for them. He didn’t really know if she was talking to him in particular, or simply just absent-mindedly voicing her every thought.

His gaze was still trained on her, the sun now starting to set more steadily. The golden rays caused her eyes to crinkle slightly, but it also allowed for her to glow in his eyes. At the perfect angle, she radiated the light that she projected with her personality, with her actions. 

He shifted his position so that his head now rested on Hikari’s thigh. Without missing a beat her hand found its way into his hair, slowly working her fingers through. 

After taking one more good look at her **,** he closed his eyes, just taking in the moment, the feeling of the tips of Hikari’s fingers grazing against his skin and feeling the sun warm his cheeks.

“You tired?” She asked in a babying voice. The corners of his lips turned up, is lids opening back up ever so slightly, and ever so lazily. 

“No..” He shook his head.

“Liar~” She sang, squeezing his cheeks between her hand, “Want me to read to you? A cute wittle bedtime story?” She teased. 

His only response was turning his head toward her, burying his face in the side of her stomach. 

He could feel the movements of her muscles, reaching and rummaging through her tote for the book. 

With one hand still moving gingerly through his hair, Hikari cleared her throat and began to read to him, as if he were a young child being tucked into bed,

_ “Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a rabbit who was made almost entirely out of china. He had china arms and china legs, china paws and a china head, a china torso and a china nose…” _ Just by listening to the steadiness in her voice, Aone felt in her words she didn’t even need the book to tell him the story, like it was a part of her,  _ “…The rabbit’s name was Edward Tulane, and he was tall. He measured almost three feet from the tip of his ears to the tip of his feet..”  _

Aone didn’t know at what point he was lulled to sleep by her silvery, soft voice. Nor did he know when she dozed off as well, waking up with only a peak of the sun coming from behind the trees. 

Her fingers were curled in his hair, her head and back resting against the trunk of the tree. The book was slipping off to the side, her thumb still marking the page she had left off on. 

He patted one of her knees, trying his best to gently wake her up, “Hey,” He said gently. 

She didn’t wake up.

He nudged her a little harder this time, “Hey~” He said in the same soft, sing-song tone she had used before.

“Hey~” She whispered back, her eyes still shut, but the corners of her lips creased upwards. 

“We should probably head back, it's getting dark out.” He said as she peeked down at him, her hand now weaving through the tufts of his hair once again. 

“Mhm,” She sighed, stretching her arms outwards and upwards, letting out a yawn, “Yeah, probably.” 

As much as he would’ve loved to lay in the warmth and comfort of Hikari’s lap forever, he pushed himself up off of the ground and began to pack everything back up.

\---

Soon enough the two found themselves back on Hikari’s front step, hands intertwined from the moment they began their journey back. 

But now the night was over. As much as they would’ve wanted to, they couldn’t freeze time and stand by the front door forever. 

“Thank you,” Hikari said, looking up at Aone, swinging their arms back and forth absent-mindedly once again, “I had a lovely time with you today.” She gave him a soft smile.

“Of course,” He nodded, “I had a nice time, too..” 

Well, the two of them might as well have frozen time right then and there. They had said their thanks, and an awkward, and hesitant silence filled the shrinking space between them. 

Aone had thought ahead enough to set the basket down before he said his thanks and his goodbye, hoping that would help give him the push he needed. 

Unsure as to whether or not exactly who was going to do it, Hikari began to fidget with the ends of her hair. 

She went to tuck it behind her ear, but before she could she felt a warm palm brushing against her cheek, slipping the stray strands of hair behind her ear. 

Hikari looked up at him, her heart caught in her throat as the two stared at each other like deer in headlights. 

Aone didn’t even realize he had moved until he felt the soft skin of her cheek against the coarseness of his palm.

“Uhm,” It came out just barely above a low, raspy whisper, “May I?”

His gaze held the same intensity that it did the first time that she saw him. But it wasn’t intimidating like when he singled out her ace, no. Instead of being something that was meant to send chills down a cowering opponent’s spine, she felt so warm and fuzzy inside. Like his eyes alone could keep her cozy during the coldest of winter days.

His other hand was already cupping the other side of her face as she nodded slowly, “Yes. Please..” She could barely breathe out the second word.

For a build up that had been agonizingly slow for the both of them, the moment itself was done and over with all too quickly. Holding Hikari’s face in his hands he dipped down, tilting her head up slightly, and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips before pulling away, but still keeping their faces close. 

Before Hikari could lean in and try to steal another, Aone pulled into a hug, her head thudding against his chest. His heartbeat was loud in her ear.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing him tight, before craning her neck up towards him.

“Hey~,” He looked down at her as she spoke, she had a lopsided grin plastered on her face, like she was about to tease him for being so worked up about a goodbye kiss, “Can I have one more?” Her lips seemed to barely move when she asked. 

Moments like this reminded Aone that he didn’t need to be so nervous, so modest. He liked her, and she liked him.

Aone let out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding in as he chuckled and nodded, taking one of the hands that had been wrapped around her in the hug and snaked it below her chin.

He didn’t even give her a verbal response, he just tilted her head back up to him as he leaned in, both of them smiling too wide.

Their teeth knocked together and the two began to laugh quietly, faces still pressed against one another. Hikari’s arms left Aone’s waist and they sneaked through the nonexistent space between them, wrapping them around his neck.

“Stop laughing,” She said as she herself was having a hard time keeping her composure, “It's no fun to kiss your teeth.” 

But that just made Aone grin even wider, “You’re one to talk,” He said, planting a kiss on her nose, “You’re laughing too,” He mumbled the last part as Hikari pressed her lips to his. 

Her lips were soft, but chapped from anxious biting and dry summer days. But Aone only noticed the first. 

It was sweet, and tender between the two of them. There were no fireworks, or life changing revelations, just comfort and warmth in one another’s touch. 

Hikari’s request for one more turned into two, turned into wetter, open-mouthed kisses that involved much less teeth than the first try, then Hikari’s back thudding against her front door as her fingers raked through Aone’s hair while he kept her pulled tightly against him. 

But kisses that left the two breathless faded into soft, loving pecks on the corners of lips and on blushing cheeks, and a fit of giggles from Hikari when Aone didn’t let her leave his embrace. 

“Goodnight, Takanobu” She murmured against his lips, her hands retreating from around his neck, leaving him with goosebumps- Aone wasn’t sure if it was from the sudden evening breeze or if it was just the effect she had on him.

As she slowly pulled away he took her hand in his, before bringing it up to his lips and placed a soft kiss against the back of her hand. 

“Goodnight, angel.” He dropped her hand and turned on his heels, walking back towards his car.

Her hands were on the door handle, but she was too entranced with the tall boy sauntering away to go inside just yet. 

Hikari knew they were young, and that they hadn’t known each other long, and that it was only the first date. 

But she could already feel something bubbling in the bottom of her heart when she looked at him.

He turned back around one last time before opening the fence gate, flashing her a warm, blushing smile which she happily returned. As she watched Aone’s car pull away from the curb, the happiness in her heart did not subside.

No matter how things would go after tonight didn’t matter, she just felt so lucky that they had stumbled into each other’s lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you all enjoy this last chapter!! I really do hope that everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this fic!!!!!!
> 
> much love !!! i'll be back soon w a new fic (or honestly maybe? a bonus chapter for this????? depends on my mood and the alignment of the planets)
> 
> xoxo :*****

**Author's Note:**

> who doesn't have aone brain rot every once in a while!!! I have most of the chapters done so i will be updating frequently until i have them all posted!


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